The New York Times reported that 77 Nobel laureates has asked for an investigation into the cancellation of a federal grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a group that researches bat coronaviruses in China.  The pre-eminent scientists characterized the explanation for the decision by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as “preposterous.”

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) issued a press release and sent a letter of protest to the NIH Director on behalf of 31 scientific societies representing tens of thousands of members.  The letter said the grant cancellation politicized science and concluded, “The action taken by the NIH must be immediately reconsidered.”

According to a report by the Daily Beast, "a military contractors’ report circulating on Capitol Hill claims to have evidence that COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese lab. It’s filled with information that’s just plain wrong."

CBS 60 Minutes broadcasted "Why it matters that the NIH canceled a coronavirus research grant" with the byline "Faulty allegations led to cutting $3.7 million dollars to ecologists studying coronaviruses. The ramifications may be felt in future pandemics."

Sarina Neote, ASBMB Science Policy Manager, expressed concerns about increasing fear within the scientific community of being targeted as a result of race or identify and the cancellation of the EcoHealth grant in the APA Justice conference call.  She followed with an ASBMB position statement after the call and welcomes Asian American and other organizations to join the effort.

In a CNN opinion piece, Benjamin Corb, ASBMB Public Affairs Director, raised the question: Why did the NIH terminate a grant that supports leading research into how coronaviruses can be transferred from their natural host of bats to humans in the middle of a pandemic?  "Politicizing peer-reviewed science is a dangerous threat to the independent American scientific enterprise and is the first step on a deeply concerning slippery slope. If Daszak's research can be stopped by funding cuts at the whim of the President, what other research grants in the future will be pulled because of the left or right leanings of any future president? What damage would such a decision have on the world-leading productivity and reputation of the National Institutes of Health?  Science must remain independent and nonpoliticized if it is to be trusted and productive during this pandemic crisis and beyond," Corb said.

Politico broke the story that NIH told EcoHealth Alliance, the study’s sponsor on bat-human virus transmission for the past five years, that all future funding was cut.  “At this time, NIH does not believe that the current project outcomes align with the program goals and agency priorities,” Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, wrote in a letter to Dr. Pete Daszak, who is President of EcoHealth Alliance.