Wisconsin Bill Would Ban Pandemic-level Pathogen Enhancements — Narrow Scope Tailored to Augment UW BioMed Work

It is conceivable that Wisconsin's politically eclectic population
may drive the two major political parties together to enact
policy that defines University research as irretrievably connected
to popular sentiment, in the best tradition of the Wisconsin Idea.
Wisconsin Senate Bill 401 bans Gain of function research, research
that "may reasonably be anticipated to enhance the transmissibility
or virulence (harmfulness) of a potentially pandemic pathogen."

Madison, Wisconsin — A state bill that would ban a narrow band of research on dangerous pathogens is proceeding through the Wisconsin Legislature.

Wisconsin Senate Bill 401's (SB401) introduction comes as the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters its fourth year among the human population.

SARS-CoV-2 virus is widely suspected by independent experts to have been bio-engineered in a research laboratory, with ties to the United States, and inadvertently released in Wuhan, China in Fall 2019.

Yet, this recognition remains politically toxic, inhibiting academic and federal policymakers from banning this type of research, Gain of Function, that independent experts think caused the Covid 19 Pandemic.

The Biden administration has still failed to institute a 911-type commission on SARS-COV2 origins, though the World Health Organization has convened a team of sorts for the Global Study of the Origins of SARS-COV2, that produced work that has drawn criticism.

Independent experts see the states, exemplified by Wisconsin Senate Bill 401, as friendly terrain on which to codify research-safety measures, transparency, reporting requirements and community right-to-know mandates.

Wisconsin Senate Bill 401 bans Gain of Function research, research that "may reasonably be anticipated to enhance the transmissibility or virulence (harmfulness) of a potentially pandemic pathogen."

Wisconsin Senate Bill 401 indicates potentially pandemic pathogen as defined below.

"Potentially pandemic pathogen means a virus, bacteria, fungus, or
2eukaryotic parasite, or any strain or variant of a virus, bacteria, fungus, or
3eukaryotic parasite, that is any of the following:

4 1. Likely, moderately, or highly transmissible and likely capable of wide and
5uncontrollable spread in human populations.

6 2. Likely, moderately, or highly virulent and likely to cause significant
7mortality and morbidity in human beings.

8 3. Likely to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, the capacity of
9 public health systems, or the security of this state if allowed to spread within the
10 general population.

The United States has seen government censorship and propaganda of media, medical fields and the universities rise to a level resembling wartime government control the last four years, as acknowledged experts have seen chilling impacts.
 
"A vocal minority within [Virology] field has been knowingly, willfully, and brazenly lying on the subjects of COVID-19 origins, biosafety, biosecurity, and biorisk management. Dismayingly, the vast majority of the field has chosen to remain silent," said Richard Ebright, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University, and co-founder of BiosafetyNow.

Post-WW II,  UW-Madison has grown into a major public research institution, that in Wisconsin's popular mind remains a source of pride for multi-generational commitments to benefit society and advance science.

Asked if Wisconsin, should be concerned that Wisconsin Senate Bill 401 can harm this commitment, and betray a legacy, Dr. Ebright responded in an email explicitly: "The bill covers only gain-of-function research on potential pandemic pathogens. The covered research has no--zero--civilian applications and represents less than one tenth of one percent of biomedical research at the University of Wisconsin (basically just a part of the research of one faculty member)."

Conduct by the University of Wisconsin-Madison high-security Influenza Research Institute operating in Research Park has come under criticism in a new book, excerpts of which were published in USA Today last Spring.

The book is Alison Young’s Pandora’s Gamble Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk, (April 2023, WHSmith). 

Much of the focus of Young's book is on Gain of Function (GOF) research.

Pandora’s Gamble Lab Leaks, Pandemics,
and a World at Risk, (2023, WHSmith)

The United States House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has singled out and criticized UW-Madison's bio research recently.

As Wisconsin progressives and community activists eye suspected military-intelligence duel use of Gain of Function (GOF) research, late Summer reaction of Wisconsin to the proposed Gain of Function ban has been muted and unpredictable.
---
One thing is certain: Conducting high-risk, Gain of Function research has exasperated many independent scientists such as Bryce Nickels, Professor of Genetics at Rutgers University; co-founder of BiosafetyNow.

Arrogance, careerism and even sociopathy appear to drive some research such as Gain of Function.

Writes Nickels on Twitter in mid-August: "They knew the risks, and yet they decided to play god anyway. Only thing you could have done would have been to pay them to stop doing the work. They could not be trusted then and can not be trusted now.
We need to ban GOFROC yesterday."

They knew the risks, and yet they decided to play god anyway. Only thing you could have done would have been to pay them to stop doing the work. They could not be trusted then and can not be trusted now.
We need to ban GOFROC yesterday. https://t.co/bdvDdP4svW

— Bryce Nickels (@Bryce_Nickels) August 13, 2023

It is conceivable, even likely, that Wisconsin's politically eclectic population may drive the two major U.S. political parties together to enact policy banning Gain of Function research as an acknowledgement that the University of Wisconsin System is irretrievably connected to popular sentiment and safety, in the best exercise of the Wisconsin Idea and UW-Madison's premier public research tradition.

Update:

It was recently reported that the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency had collected evidence of a lab origin of COVID-19, but that intel had been left out of public reports.

Just now, U.S. Right to Know obtained a heavily redacted report from the Defense Intelligence Agency… pic.twitter.com/5zniwxT6Q2

— Emily Kopp (@emilyakopp) September 5, 2023

Wisconsin's Systemic and Remarkable Racism Continues

Critical reading on Wisconsin racism in the Boston Review.

Writes S. Ani Mukherji:

In January 2015, local leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement convened at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to discuss the ways that activism on campus might connect with anti-racist work in the city. Following a comment about the Wisconsin Idea, community organizer Angela Walker stood up in the audience to speak. In a sharp statement, she stressed the need for white Wisconsinites to be honest about the reality of racism in the state: 'The Wisconsin I’ve always known is racist. So let’s be willing to be up-front when we’re talking about what this Wisconsin Idea is.' The comment drew applause from some but raised the eyebrows of others as it discredited a beloved idealized image of the state as exceptionally progressive. 

Racism in Wisconsin is meaner than most, and wedded intimately to the worst traditions of the provincial idiocy and brutality of rural America.

UW-Madison Ups Public Words on Proposed Cell Tissue-Stem Cell Research Ban

UW-Madison Chancellor Addresses UW Board of Regents with Words Aimed at Faculty, Researchers, Students and other UW System Advocates, as GOP Disinformation Campaign Amps Up

Updated - In words intended to assuage allies and use assets to pressure Republican legislators and Scott Walker, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank advised UW System regents Friday proposed legislation criminalizing fetal tissue research imperils the University.

"This is a direct hit," Blank said. "This is a threat to one of our strongest areas in terms of our reputation in the sciences." (Herzog, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

The vast majority of the UW System Board of Regents has been ideologically vetted and appointed by the Evangelical Scott Walker. (Mal Contends)

Blank's escalation—following her halting public advocacy—is part of a massive, behind-the-scenes effort involving advocates for the entire UW System is every key Wisconsin legislative district.

Republicans are countering with their own disinformation campaign, pretending to an expertise in fetal cell-stem cell research—telling policymakers and opinion-makers on background that the bill by the religious right on "body parts," to borrow from Rep. Jacque and Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc), and inserted into their proposed amendment to the Wisconsin criminal code—does not apply to a wide line of research and investigation at UW-Madison, which is of course a lie.

Other levers to derail the research-killing legislation are being utilized, even if the subtle-to-silent PR strategy of the UW System administration baffles and frustrates many. The American corporate left has acted, and reportedly stands ready.

Many still ask, why hasn't the UW been aggressively pointing out that Republicans are standing for cancer, not fighting against it? Have you ever known or are you now a family traumatized by cancer and other ailments that stem cells could be used to treat and cure in the future? Most every family has.

Risky Strategy

This is a risky strategy for the UW System during a year when Scott Walker began his run for the presidency extolling his 'taking on' public employees, public education, community control and workers' wages.

Moreover, students facing massive student loan debt since Ronald Reagan began his attack on higher education some 24 years ago, can not be counted on to sing the University System's praises, much less employ pressure across the state on behalf of UW centers. (Salon) (Dissent Magazine)

The cat is out of the bag one of nation's premier public research institutions is under attack in a state where rural and white-district Wisconsin Republicans and Scott Walker function as surrogates for rightwing groups such the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Evangelical, anti-science groups across the country now at their apex in the Republican Party.

Since the months and even days directly preceding Walker's formal July 13 announcement for the presidency, Walker has made attacking the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Idea a centerpiece of his campaign to destroy public education in Wisconsin, which includes a years-long attack on K-12 public education. (Marshall, TPM) (ThinkProgress)

Former Wisconsin State Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) [(State Assembly (1983-1991), State Senate (1991 to 2015)]—hailed by some for blowing the whistle on his Republican Party as corrupt and beholden to special interests in 2013-14 as Republicans clung to a 17-16 majority in the senate (Craver, The Capital Times)—decided the most effective strategy for challenging the corruption of Wisconsin Republicans is to quit and take his pension, rather than fight.

"When some think tank comes up with the legislation and tells you not to fool with it, why are you even a legislator anymore? You just sit there and take votes and you’re kind of a feudal serf for folks with a lot of money," said Schultz in an important piece in the Madison Capital Times in 2103 (Craver, "The Last Moderate ..."). That Schultz could have said, 'no,' apparently did not occur to the former legislator.

Prospects

This weekend Scott Walker is in Iowa campaigning, the Badgers football team hosts its first home game and Packers play the Bears on Sunday. One must have priorities.

It is unlikely public attention will be focused on Walker's hollowing out of Wisconsin's public education system and representative democracy this weekend.

Walker now eyes again Wisconsin's public pension system in an effort to bankrupt Wisconsin communities, which remain largely opposed to Walker demanding the end of local municipal control, in another ALEC bill Walker wants to impose onto the state.

In the following weeks, hope for the preservation of the UW System, public education and the effective structure of representative democracy in Wisconsin lies with the 33-member Wisconsin State Senate—more difficult to gerrymander than the 99-member lower house, the State Assembly.

Wisconsin Republicans hold a relatively slim 19-14 majority in the state senate, and an overwhelming 63-36 majority in the state assembly.

Walker, stinging from national criticism questioning his intellect, policy knowledge and ethics, can be counted on take his frustrations out on Wisconsin where his favorable rating has now dipped into the 30s, and sign any legislation which hurts people, impedes science, and degrades the University of Wisconsin-Madison in particular.

"Asked whether the phrase 'cares about people like you' describes Walker, 37 percent say it does, while 59 percent say it does not" in a poll lat month, (Marquette University Law School poll.

On a hopeful note, if ordered by David Koch—who is a champion of efforts to research and cure cancer—and other patrons to back off, Walker's administration will see to it the fetal research-stem cell bill not reach the governor's desk. The "double-high authoritarian" Walker takes orders and often backs down. (Mal Contends) (CounterPunch)

Whether the popular University of Wisconsin System will publicly and fully mobilize is an open question.

Scott Walker Wants to Strike out Wisconsin Idea and Public Service

Finding resistance weak, Scott Walker proposes removing Wisconsin Idea and public service language from UW System mission

Update II: Scott Walker said the language removing the Wisconsin Idea is a "drafting error." (Herzog, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Updated - "The Wisconsin Idea is embedded in our DNA," University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross said in a statement. "It is so much more than words on a page. It is the reason the UW System exists. It defines us and forever will distinguish us as a great, public university. We will work to preserve the Wisconsin Idea in every form."

Will Wisconsin Idea Fellowships be abolished?

Endowments and projects mark the Wisconsin Idea vision. Will these endowments now cease?

How about the "The Wisconsin Idea Seminar[,] a five-day traveling study tour that immerses forty UW–Madison faculty, academic staff, and administrators in the educational, industrial, social, and political realities of Wisconsin. Begun in 1985, the seminar introduces and promotes the Wisconsin Idea and our commitment to use university expertise and resources to address the problems of the state."

This was begun by Chancellor Donna Shalala, who is stepping down as Chancellor at the U. of Miami this year.

The story was first reported by Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari at PRWatch.

What can Scott Walker possibly be thinking?

Is this man so isolated in his anti-intellectual bubble that Walker cannot fathom the value of and identity to Wisconsin that the Wisconsin Idea embodies?

"Search for truth" and "Improve the human condition" must be stricken from the Wisconsin state statute according to Scott Walker's "Freedom and Prosperity" budget.

Walker is amassing $ Millions as he literally proposes to change the books on searching for truth and improving the human condition.

How about the Wisconsin Idea scholarship?

Karen Herzog of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has the story epitomizing Scott Walker's assault on the University of Wisconsin System:

"Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget calls for essentially removing the public service language from the University of Wisconsin System's mission to focus more on workforce development, according to language released Wednesday morning."

The Wisconsin Idea has long been the core philosophy of the UW System, driving campuses to extend their reach into communities and 'every family in the state.'"

Not even Joe McCarthy at the depths of McCarthyism dared take on UW-Madison.

UW officials are stunned.

Throughout the now UW System, the Wisconsin Idea is cherished.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) message from Director, Charles Brokopp, states "Our laboratory embodies the Wisconsin Idea that brings valuable services, research and education to improve people’s lives 'beyond the classroom' and throughout the world."

Striking the Wisconsin Idea is evidently the big and bold idea of Scott Walker.

Thanks to the work of UW-Madison, the world is more prepared for the outbreak of emerging influenza and disease than at any point in human history, (mal contends) but I guess the concept of public health is frightening to Walker and his crazy ideology.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene is the premier influenza virus surveillance public health program anywhere in the country, partnered with the University.

Walker never ran on this proposed radical removal of the Wisconsin Idea from the UW System.

Jonas Persson and Mary Bottari at PRWatch:

Walker's executive budget (see below) amends Sec. 1111 of the statutes to remove language specifying that the UW system has a public service mission to “extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campus" and to "serve and stimulate society." He strikes language ensuring that the mission of the UW is to extend "training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition," as well as the language specifying that "the search for truth" is "basic to every purpose of the system."

Unless Scott Walker's descent into idiocy is met with a united front for one of the world's greatest research and teaching universities, Wisconsin will be dead-set on a trajectory towards the GOP-dominated states of the south.

Reaction cannot be muted. Names must be named; facts must be stated.

Wisconsin Political Data and Analyses Lead Country

via mal contends - Wisconsin is ground zero, along with some seven other states, in the 2008 presidential election.

Small-time (by marketing standards) Milwaukee and Green Bay are two of nation's top four markets for presidential ads, and the state ranks sixth among the key battlegrounds in TV spending (Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

How do we know that? We know through the work of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, which compiles statistical data on political spending in broadcast media around the country, including this latest report (for which I cannot find a link): Nearly 100 percent of the McCain campaign's recent advertisements are negative.

And the Wisconsin Advertising Project is not alone in its contributions to political knowledge.

Wisconsin is ground zero to among the nation's most insightful political data gathering and analyses, often cited by the national media and used as analytical resources in describing voting demographics, voting preferences, and various trends.

Other examples include Election08Data and Political Arithmetic.

But these are not secretive campaign strategists planning their appeals to the voters, these are public outfits and publicly minded academics and political junkies.

The value of Wisconsin's long commitment to public education and the Wisconsin Idea is clear.

It is no wonder that the grand-daddy of all polls--the Nielsen ratings--also has long ties to the University of Wisconsin System in Arthur Charles Neilson, Sr., BS, University of Wisconsin at Madison (1918).