Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) banned EcoHealth Alliance Inc. and its former president, Dr. Peter Daszak, formally blocking both the company and the doctor from receiving federal funds for five years. EcoHealth allegedly failed to report dangerous gain-of-function experiments to the government, which ultimately led to the debarment. In the opt-out notice for Daszak, an HHS official wrote that the actions taken were “necessary” to protect the US government’s business interests.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., applauded the exclusion in a statement, calling it “justice for the American people.” Comer blasted “bad actor” EcoHealth and “its corrupt former president” for using taxpayer dollars to conduct “dangerous gain-of-function research in China.”
In May, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which sits under the House Oversight Committee, issued an interim report detailing the findings of its investigation into government funding and the lack of oversight of research by function gains.
Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus visited the institute in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on February 3, 2021. . (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
HHS FIRES THE PRESIDENT OF THE ECOSALUT ALLIANCE for breach of grant procedures
The subcommittee noted in the report that it had found “significant evidence” that Daszak “repeatedly violated the terms of the NIH grant awarded to EcoHealth.” In light of the findings, the committee ultimately recommended that EcoHealth and Deszak be formally barred and receive “no” federal funding.
In addition, in its review, the committee accused EcoHealth of failing to submit an annual research update, only to submit it in August 2021, nearly two years after the September 2019 deadline.
Peter Daszak (R), Thea Fischer (L) and other members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan , in China’s central Hubei province, in February. 3, 2021. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
“EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak is not a good steward of American taxpayer dollars and should never again receive funding from the American taxpayer,” said committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R -Oh, in the May 2024 note.
“Dr. Daszak and his organization conducted dangerous gain-of-function research at the (Wuhan Institute of Virology), willfully violated the terms of a multimillion-dollar NIH grant, and endangered the national security of United States. This blatant disregard for the American people is reprehensible.”
EcoHealth Alliance’s exclusion period will end on May 14, 2029, and Dr. Daszak’s exclusion will end six days later, on May 20, 2029.
The president of the EcoHealth Alliance, 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 Harnik/Getty Images)
DISGRACED ECOHALTH ALLIANCE COLLECTED NEARLY $100M IN COURT FUNDS SINCE 2008
It was revealed in May that the disgraced research firm received nearly $100 million from the federal government over the past decade and a half.
From fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2024, the U.S. government provided EcoHealth Alliance with an estimated $94.3 million in taxpayer funds 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. .
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
An EcoHealth spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
