Edward Hammond
@pricklyresearch
Senior Science Policy Analyst for Biosafety at US NIH. All tweets personal.
☣️ 🚨 💣 Biosafety Flashback Master Thread 🧵 Thread of Threads on Lab Leaks and Lab Biosafety. 1. Flashback '77: A Short and Surprising History 2. Flashback '94: When Yale Leaked Sabiá Virus 3. Flashback '07: TAMU's Failed Leak Cover-Up (p. 1) 4. (Coming Soon)
In accordance with Executive Order 14292, the Office of the Director asked NIAID to identify projects that could potentially fall under the definition of dangerous gain of function (dGOF) research. The NIAID staff identified those projects, but then inappropriately made an…
A big step forward today for the @NIH. We have issued a guide notice implementing Pres. @realDonaldTrump's executive order ending US support for dangerous gain-of-function research. No scientific project is worth the risk of causing a pandemic.
NC lawmakers launch ‘fact-finding mission’ into UNC coronavirus researcher Ralph Baric "The requests include all records sought by U.S. Right to Know for a series of dates from 2020 to 2024..." Via @newsobserver newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
US lab biosafety rests on the personal responsibility of lab directors (Principal Investigators, or "PIs"). Recent cases of unauthorized imports do not seem to involve particularly threatening pathogens, but they beg the question: Are PIs doing their job? dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…
Russia does mislead on CTR, but this Brookings blog is a pastiche of disconnected observations that don't nearly add up to its "blunt" and bullshit conclusion. For example, is reduced USAID activity in Africa "emboldening" Putin to use Ebola as a bioweapon? No. That's absurd.
"To put it bluntly, it is now a risk that Putin and his regime will use biological weapons with impunity, all while the United States loses its influence and ability to detect biothreats of all types." My latest in Lawfare on Russia and our need to course correct on biodefense.
On March 26, @stevenemassey & @quay_dr published evidence indicating at least 7 Chapel Hill residents acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections due to research activities conducted at @UNC. Eight weeks later, @UNC has not refuted or even responded to these disturbing findings.
"Massey and Quay believe that the lack of transparency in response to their findings is a representative of a larger problem, that the motives of research institutions to continue being funded is not aligned with the public interest of full transparency"
Yesterday, we filed an appellate brief with the North Carolina Court of Appeals in our NC Public Records Act case against the University of North Carolina for roughly 50,000 pages of documents, mostly of Prof. Ralph Baric, mostly about his work with the Wuhan Institute of…
Today, we filed a notice of appeal in the Court of Appeals of North Carolina in our NC Public Records Act case against @UNC for about 50,000 pages of documents, mostly of Prof. Ralph Baric, possibly containing clues about the origins of COVID-19. We won’t give up until the public…
U.S. District Court Judge Kandis Westmore yesterday ordered the NIH to produce within one year the 43,000 pages of Gmails of David Morens (former senior advisor to Anthony Fauci) that may be relevant to the origins of Covid-19. #FOIA usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…
In our #FOIA litigation against NIH for David Morens's gmails, NIH continues to drag its feet. NIH wants to process only 300 pages per month. With about 43,000 pages of gmails that Morens unlawfully hid from the public, that would take about 12 years. usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…
US oversight and enforcement of laboratory biosafety has been nearly nonexistent for decades. It is entirely unsurprising to see research institutions chafe as @NIHDirector_Jay moves to ensure that NIH better acquit itself of a dangerously neglected responsibility.
There will never be a definition of GOF in effective law and policy that satisfies those who will only endorse a definition so malleable that it may be construed to exempt any conceivable risky research, thereby obviating the point of regulating at all. biosafetynow.substack.com/p/sun-goes-dow…
Gain-of-function research has no place in a civilized society. We cannot afford to gamble with engineered pandemics in the name of “science.” This administration is committed to ending reckless experiments that put humanity at risk.
Given Farrar's association with the obfuscation of COVID origins, I am concerned that he seeks the job of WHO Director General. Tedros' term expires in 2027. The position typically passes among regions. WHO has not elected a European DG* since 1998. *Except a 2006 interim DG.
In our #FOIA litigation against NIH for David Morens's gmails, NIH continues to drag its feet. NIH wants to process only 300 pages per month. With about 43,000 pages of gmails that Morens unlawfully hid from the public, that would take about 12 years. usrtk.org/wp-content/upl…
Restructuring at WHO appears to indicate departure of Mike Ryan. Jeremy Farrar moves to ADG. Sylvie Briand is the new Chief Scientist. genevahealthfiles.substack.com/p/the-new-lead…