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(Becker News) The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Thursday made public an email that raises concerns regarding Anthony Fauci, former White House coronavirus task force advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The email, shared on the subcommittee’s Twitter account, indicates that Fauci was aware of gain-of-function research being conducted in Wuhan, China.
Dated February 1, 2020, the email contains a summary of a meeting attended by Fauci and other scientists, discussing the origins of the coronavirus. In his summary, Fauci mentions the scientists expressing concerns about a paper from an Indian research group. The paper suggested that there were unusual mutations in the virus, which would be highly unlikely to have occurred naturally in bats. The scientists suspected that these mutations might have been deliberately introduced.
Fauci, referring to the Indian scientists, noted, “They were concerned about the fact that upon viewing the sequences of several isolates of the nCoV, there were mutations in the virus that would be most unusual to have evolved naturally in the bats and that there was a suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted.”
“The suspicion was heightened by the fact that scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan,” Fauci added.
The email notes that the conversation did not involve assumptions of foul play or guilt on anyone’s part.
Along with the email disclosure, the subcommittee has sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, demanding answers regarding the content of the email and requesting documentation related to the conference call referenced in Fauci’s email.
