Getting ahead of nature has its risks.
By Martin Hoyt
Disease prevention is an integral part of our public health sphere and has been at the forefront of our national conversation on health. It is why Americans have led the charge in eliminating diseases like polio and smallpox and is one of the reasons we joined the World Health Organization (WHO). What most Americans were not signing up for, however, was the intentional creation of deadly diseases to create vaccines ahead of the curve.
That’s what we got with gain-of-function research – the forced evolution of dangerous diseases to determine how to combat them before they naturally develop. The controversial research was unbanned in 2017 and modifies organisms like viruses and bacteria to study the effects on their biological functions. For example, one could take the common cold and edit its RNA (a molecule that carries genetic information) to accentuate the effects of the disease on the lungs in order to see what would happen if the virus were to mutate in that circumstance. Then, the virus can be developed into a preemptive vaccine or other treatment to defeat the manmade version of the disease before nature takes its course.
WHO Did It?
Sounds great, doesn’t it – to get ahead of nature itself? Well, don’t get too excited – the most widely accepted theory regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it came from gain-of-function research in a Wuhan, China, laboratory.
In 2011, if someone asked if the movie Contagion could happen in real life, you would likely have shrugged your shoulders and said, “Probably.” The idea did not seem so far-fetched – a highly virulent, deadly disease originating from a Chinese bat that ravages the global population and upends society. Yet the chances of something like that happening were slim to none, right?
Turns out, life imitates art (sort of).
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield noted in a June 2024 interview with Fox News that the COVID-19 pandemic was a “direct consequence of scientific experiments.” Medical expert Dr. Marc Siegel also warned that gain-of-function research’s “enormous problem” is a lack of safe application.
In fact, in 2023, the practice was quickly re-banned three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began. A year later, it was revealed that EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO), was using hundreds of thousands in American taxpayer funds to conduct gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) placed a formal five-year ban on taxpayer funds going to EcoHealth Alliance as well as the organization’s former president after the NGO allegedly did not report its gain-of-function research to the federal government. Additionally, last year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) admitted to funding the Wuhan lab’s gain-of-function research. Then, even legacy media outlets like The New York Times had to admit they were “misled” – if that could be true.
Americans Choose a New Path
It is abundantly clear that America is shying away from dangerous, controversial research and returning to our roots of a measured scientific approach. Our recent departure from the WHO perfectly indicates our nation’s distaste for unethical, dangerous scientific practices that lack accountability and high safety protocols.
Our departure from the WHO had been brewing for a long time. The global body has placed a heavy emphasis on woke policies that benefit our adversaries while giving America the short end of the stick. Furthermore, it elected to side with the Chinese Communist Party’s cover-up of the origins of COVID-19 instead of launching genuine investigations and holding the proper people accountable. The United States leaving the WHO shows it will not allow the nation to be walked over on the international health stage – especially when a United Nations (UN) agency is trying to play favorites with the communist regime that caused the latest global pandemic.
Make no mistake – the US quitting the WHO is a huge win for its public health and exposes the cracks underneath the surface of the UN’s public health brainchild.
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Martin Hoyt is the Director of the Public Health Reform Alliance, a nonpartisan organization committed to increasing transparency and oversight of the public health system so it works better for all Americans.
Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.
