Lawmakers, as part of ‘lab leak’ Covid inquiry, press to bar EcoHealth from federal research funds
Sarah Owermohle By Sarah Owermohle
WASHINGTON — A House panel is pushing for a virus research group and its director to be barred from any federal funds and criminally investigated, the latest in a campaign to probe the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and regulate virus research.
Republicans, in particular, are asking the administration to immediately debar the research group EcoHealth Alliance, and to refer the case to law enforcement. Democrats, in a separate report, did not go that far but said that documents and testimonies “raise reasonable questions” about the organization receiving any future taxpayer funding. Both caucuses, in separate reports, concluded that EcoHealth failed to report high-risk viral disease research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and misrepresented its work to U.S. federal agencies.
That left EcoHealth President Peter Daszak with few, if any, allies during a Wednesday hearing before the committee.