Bret Weinstein on science: what the evidence says · JRE #2198
SUBJECT: SCIENCE
The short answer
Weinstein states that gain-of-function research funding was stopped in 2014 by the Obama administration. In October 2014, the U.S. government under the Obama administration announced a funding pause on a specific, narrow category of gain-of-function research: studies reasonably anticipated to make influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses more pathogenic or more transmissible by the respiratory route in mammals.
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
what we all think we understand about where the tensions are, who are the allies and who are the antagonists on the world stage. And also the fact that this was this funding was stopped in 2014 by the Obama administration.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
In October 2014, the U.S. government under the Obama administration announced a funding pause on a specific, narrow category of gain-of-function research: studies reasonably anticipated to make influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses more pathogenic or more transmissible by the respiratory route in mammals. The pause applied to roughly 18 identified federally funded projects, did not cover the broader infectious-disease research portfolio, disease surveillance, or vaccine development, and included a request for researchers to voluntarily halt related work while a policy review proceeded. It was not a permanent or blanket stop on gain-of-function funding: in December 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services replaced the pause with the P3CO Framework, a case-by-case review process, and NIH formally lifted the funding pause. Characterizing the 2014 action as funding for gain-of-function research generally being 'stopped' overstates its scope and permanence; it was a temporary, targeted pause later superseded by a review framework rather than a lasting ban.