$12m taxpayer-funded NIH research facility in Colorado will import bats from Asia and infect them with deadly diseases.
A new taxpayer-funded lab is being built in Colorado that will import bats from around the world and experiment on dangerous diseases.
The taxpayer-funded lab, a collaboration between Dr. Anthony Fauci's old department at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Colorado State University (CSU), and EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), plans to import bats from around the world and experiment with dangerous diseases, including Ebola, Nipah virus, and Covid-19.
The above is a digital rendering of the proposed new bat lab to be constructed on Colorado State University's campus. The rendering was included in documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project.
According to proposal, the 14,000sq-ft facility will store and study some of the most transmissible pathogens on the planet.
The researchers behind the plans claim that the lab will boost America's "ability to study the role of bats in disease transmission," but some are concerned that it could lead to another pandemic on U.S. soil.
Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, told Fox News, "We cannot allow any batty experiments of pandemic potential to be unleashed on our own shores. Americans have suffered enough from Fauci-funded risky research, and we cannot allow for another lab leak, especially one on US soil or near our military bases."
Photos of bats used at a separate NIH lab.
The proposed lab, referred to as the Chiropteran Research Facility, will be built on CSU's Foothill Campus in Fort Collins, a city with a population of around 168,000. Fort Collins residents have already expressed their concerns about the lab's construction, fearing that it could spread diseases like Covid-19 and spark another pandemic.
Documents show that the lab is slated to be built just 380 feet from the border fence of university land, close to neighboring houses.
It will import, house, breed, and experiment on dozens to hundreds of bats and will be a biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) research center, meaning its work will involve pathogens associated with human disease. However, earlier documents suggest that the lab planned to experiment with even more dangerous pathogens, such as Covid-19, Ebola, and Nipah virus.
Despite the concerns and pushback from residents and lawmakers, the project received a $6.7 million grant from the NIH in October 2021. The initial budget for the lab was $8 million, but it has since increased to $11.83 million, with CSU upping its contribution from $1.25 million to $5.08 million.
Dr Peter Daszak (pictured left alongside Dr Anthony Fauci) oversees EcoHealth Alliance, which is involved with the development of the Colorado lab. The proposals were approved when Dr Fauci was overseeing the NIAID.
Conservatives are also raising concerns about the lab's ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China, where the Covid-19 pandemic is believed to have originated. Emails and notes from meetings show communication and proposed collaboration between EHA, CSU, WIV, and NIAID, formerly run by Dr. Fauci.
Some are questioning the role of EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based non-profit that conducts research on wildlife viruses, in the lab's construction, as well as its funding from the NIH.
Republican Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale is also working to defund similar research projects at the NIH lab in his home state, stating, "Taxpayers shouldn't be funding EcoHealth Alliance or the construction of new US labs that import Asian bats for risky virus research that can cause a pandemic on US soil."
READ MORE:
COVID'S LINGERING IMPACT: OVER A QUARTER OF COLORADO STUDENTS CHRONICALLY ABSENT
MASK STUDY SUGGESTS N95 MASKS MAY EXPOSE WEARERS TO TOXIC COMPOUNDS
ENGLISH LEARNERS STRUGGLE TO CATCH UP IN THE AFTERMATH OF COVID
The CSU lab has faced criticism for its potential to put the American public at risk and for its ties to the WIV. Colorado residents have expressed their concerns, and a campaign has been launched to put a hold on the project until more information is gathered about a possible lab leak and gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
CSU insists that the facility will follow strict biosafety standards and have oversight from multiple organizations.