https://www.newsmax.com/politics/nih-wuhan-lab-nonprofit/2020/08/19/id/982965/
The National Institutes of Health told a New York-based nonprofit it needs to turn over information from a research partner in Wuhan, China, if it wants to keep its grant funding, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance must comply in order to win back a multimillion-dollar research grant, according to the Journal.
The nonprofit searches for warning signs of animal viruses that could cause human outbreaks. The group has worked with the Wuhan lab since 2004.
According to a July 8 letter from NIH, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, EcoHealth Alliance must provide a sample of the new coronavirus the Wuhan researchers used to determine its genetic sequence.
The nonprofit also has to arrange for an inspection of the Wuhan Institute of Virology by an outside team. That team would look at the facility's lab and records "with specific attention to addressing the question of whether WIV staff had SARS-CoV-2 in their possession prior to December 2019," the U.S. health-research agency's letter stated.
"The NIH has received reports that the Wuhan Institute of Virology . . . has been conducting research at its facilities in China that pose serious bio-safety concerns," the letter, which was signed by Michael Lauer, the NIH deputy director for extramural research, states.
"We have concerns that WIV has not satisfied safety requirements under the award, and that EcoHealth Alliance hasn't satisfied its obligations to monitor" its partner to ensure it has complied with regulations regarding the use of the grant money, the letter added.