 |
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."
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:
