President Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending current and future federal funding for gain-of-function research in certain countries, such as China and Iran.
The order seeks to protect Americans from this type of “dangerous” research and any lab accidents and biosecurity incidents that most likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
American innovation will not be impeded by the order, according to the White House, but it will increase the safety and security of biological research in the U.S.
- For decades, policies overseeing gain-of-function research on pathogens, toxins, and potential pathogens have lacked adequate enforcement, transparency, and top-down oversight. Researchers have not acknowledged the legitimate potential for societal harms that this kind of research poses.
- The Biden Administration allowed dangerous gain-of-function research with insufficient levels of oversight and actively approved Federal life-science research funding in China and other countries.
- The 2024 United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (“DURC/PEPP”) and the 2024 Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening are the latest examples of inadequate policies that rely on self-reporting and fail to protect Americans from dangerous research practices.
- This Order pauses research using infectious pathogens and toxins in the United States that may pose a danger to American citizens until a safer, more enforceable, and transparent policy governing such research can be developed and implemented. It directs the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Security Advisor (NSA) to work with funding agencies to develop such a policy within 120 days.
- Unlike previous policies, this Order contains enforcement and reporting mechanisms that will strengthen oversight and discourage subjective interpretation of policies that researchers have used in the past to evade biosafety and biosecurity oversight. (White House)
🚨 BREAKING: @POTUS just signed an executive order protecting Americans from dangerous gain-of-function research.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025
The order:
— Ends any present and all future Federal funding of dangerous gain-of-function research in countries of concern like China and Iran and in foreign… pic.twitter.com/4Cn7iQ4i3L
The mistakes made during COVID-19 can never be repeated-- American lives depend on it.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) May 5, 2025
President Trump is implementing commonsense safety measures to protect our communities from dangerous gain-of-function research originating in China and Iran. https://t.co/yDKIN5QZe5
.@SecKennedy tells the story of how America came to fund Gain-of-Function research in Wuhan: "In all of the history of Gain-of-Function research, we cannot point to a single good thing that has come of it." pic.twitter.com/D3mgDNYRyP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025
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