The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has banned EcoHealth Alliance Inc. and its former president, Dr. Peter Daszak, officially barring the company and the doctor from receiving federal funds for five years. EcoHealth allegedly failed to report the dangerous job acquisition experiences to the government, which ultimately led to deprivation. in Notice of deprivation As for Daszak, a Department of Health and Human Services official wrote that the actions taken were “necessary” to protect the US government’s business interests.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., welcomed the ban in a statement, calling it “justice for the American people.” Coomer went on to criticize the “bad actor” EcoHealth and its “corrupt former president” for using taxpayer money to conduct “dangerous job gain research in China.”
In May, the House Oversight Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic issued an interim report detailing the findings of its investigation into government funding and lack of oversight of gain-of-function research.
Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus visit the institute in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province on February 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
The subcommittee noted in the report that it found “significant evidence” that Daszak “repeatedly violated the terms of a National Institutes of Health grant awarded to EcoHealth.” In light of the findings, the committee ultimately recommended that EcoHealth and Deszak be formally barred and barred from receiving “any” federal funding.
Additionally, in its review, the committee accused EcoHealth of failing to provide an annual update of the research, only to submit it in August 2021, nearly two years after the September 2019 deadline.
Peter Daszak (right), Thea Fisher (left) and other members of the WHO team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus, arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province in February. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
“Environmental Health Alliance Chairman Dr. Peter Daszak is not a good steward of American taxpayer money and should never receive funding from American taxpayers again,” committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Oh., said in a May 2024 memo.
“Dr. Daszak and his organization conducted dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, intentionally violated the terms of a multi-million dollar National Institutes of Health grant, and endangered U.S. national security. This blatant disdain for the American people is reprehensible.”
EcoHealth Alliance's suspension is scheduled to end on May 14, 2029, and Dr. Daszak's suspension is scheduled to end six days later on May 20, 2029.
EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak speaks during a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic on Capitol Hill on May 1, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Disgraced Environmental Health Alliance has taken nearly $100 million in taxpayer money since 2008
It was revealed in May that the disgraced research company had received nearly $100 million from the federal government over the past decade and a half.
From fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government provided EcoHealth Alliance with an estimated $94.3 million in taxpayer money through contracts, grants, direct payments, loans and other financial assistance, according to a Fox News Digital review of government spending data provided by USAspending.gov. .
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An EcoHealth spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
