An amendment to the Endless Frontier Act being debated by the U.S. Senate to ban the use of U.S. tax dollars to fund “gain-of-function” research in China was adopted by the chamber on a voice vote on May 25. The amendment was introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and co-sponsored by Republicans Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Mike Braun of Indiana, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. “No funds made available to any federal agency, including the National Institutes for Health (NIH), may be used to conduct gain-of-function research in China,” the amendment said. The amendment defines gain-of-function research as “any research project that may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity or transmissibility in mammals.” That’s the same definition the NIH used when implementing a funding moratorium on gain-of-function …