Experts on Aug. 3 urged Congress to implement a new oversight system over risky research conducted in or funded by the United States, asserting the present system is ill-equipped to identify problematic experiments.
Two Department of Health and Human Services agencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently required to analyze whether proposed projects meet the definition of research “involving enhanced potential pandemic pathogens,” or pathogens that could lead to a pandemic.
Projects that meet the definition are referred to a committee made up of members appointed by the health secretary, with the panel deciding whether the projects can move forward or not….