Interior Department Worked With Group Linked To Wuhan Lab On Key COVID Report: Watchdog
- July 7, 2023
The Department of the Interior worked with officials from a global non-profit linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China on a key study of COVID and bats in the United States, according to a watchdog group.
Protect the Public’s Trust, a government watchdog organization, obtained documents showing that the Interior Department worked with officials from the EcoHealth Alliance, a controversial group linked to the lab in Wuhan, on a report on “the possibility that humans could give SARS-CoV-2 to bats and bats would in turn spread the infection back to humans.”
“EcoHealth’s track record doesn’t inspire confidence,” said Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain. “And here we have another instance of the U.S. government relying on this group – and during a consequential phase of a pandemic. The scandal-plagued organization tried – and for a while succeeded – to move investigators’ and media focus away from the Wuhan lab where it was closely involved in research.”
“As we unearth more EHA ties to the federal government, the question is why the federal government has downplayed the organization’s apparent reporting violations and how the public can have any confidence that it is deserving of taxpayer funds,” Chamberlain added.