EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak to Appear for Public Hearing

WASHINGTON — Today, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), E&C Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), and E&C Subcommittee on Health Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) announced that EcoHealth Alliance (EcoHealth) President Dr. Peter Daszak will appear for a public hearing on May 1, 2024.

EcoHealth — a U.S.-based non-profit whose mission is to prevent pandemics — used taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). During his closed-door transcribed interview with the Committees on November 14, 2023, Dr. Daszak made multiple statements inconsistent with documents and evidence reviewed by the Committees. This raises serious questions about the veracity of EcoHealth ’s public statements, including their insistence that the research they funded at the WIV could not have caused the pandemic.

The Chairs are calling on Dr. Daszak to address the discrepancies in his testimony and publicly explain EcoHealth’s relationship with the WIV.

“These revelations undermine your credibility as well as every factual assertion you made during your transcribed interview. The Committees have a right and an obligation to protect the integrity of their investigations, including the accuracy of testimony during a transcribed interview. We invite you to correct the record,” wrote the Chairs.

In preparation for the public hearing next month, the Chairs are also requesting further information from Dr. Daszak about EcoHealth’s communication with the WIV, public health agencies, and prominent individuals involved in the suppression of the lab-leak hypothesis.

Background

Dr. Daszak told the Committees that EcoHealth intended to conduct dangerous gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at a University of North Carolina lab if its proposal — known widely as DEFUSE — was approved by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A recently released Freedom of Information Act document production directly contradicts this statement and suggests that EcoHealth intended to mislead DARPA and conduct the risky research at the WIV instead.

Dr.  Daszak’s statements require correction and clarification as these documents suggest that EcoHealth intended to conduct research at laboratories with weaker biosafety measures set by the Chinese government instead of at laboratories with higher biosafety standards required by the United States. Scientific evidence and available intelligence indicate that a research-related incident at a lab in Wuhan remains a plausible cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. EcoHealth’s negligent, haphazard approach to biosafety and grant compliance, coupled with the misleading statements by Dr. Daszak to the Committees, raise serious concerns that must be further addressed at the hearing.

Read the Committees’ full letter to Dr. Peter Daszak here.

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