25 June 2021
Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Minister Hunt
I draw your attention to an article published in the Australian today[1], which states that “CSIRO and several Australian universities have engaged in at least 10 joint projects with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the past decade, a laboratory that US intelligence has linked to the Chinese military and which is suspected of being at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak.”
The same article states “a spokesperson for Mr Hunt said he had ordered a review of “gain-of-function” research in Australia by the National Health and Medical Research Council.”
Concerningly, this article points out the roles of CSIRO and Australian universities in research and development at, and/or with, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, roles which CSIRO at first denied in Senate Estimates.
What is worse is that the CSIRO trained Chinese infectious diseases expert Shi Zhengli’s protege, Peng Zhou, who is now head of the Bat Virus Infection and Immunity Project at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Further, there are links into many universities, one being the University of Queensland, including Dr Hume Field[2] who is one of many academics from Australia engaged with the EcoHealth Alliance as a Science and Policy Advisor for both China and southeast Asia regions. Dr Hume has been working on emerging diseases, environmental science and infectious disease epidemiology. On 12 May 2020, the Washington Post reported that EcoHealth is a “longtime partner” of the Wuhan Institute of Virology[3].
Minister, so called “Gain-of-Function” (GoF) is a euphemism for biological research aimed at increasing the virulence and lethality of pathogens and viruses. GoF research:
- is government funded and supported by CSIRO and Australian universities and academics.
- academics may not understand the underlying political or military agendas of such research.
- its focus is on enhancing the pathogens’ ability to infect different species and to increase their deadly impact as airborne pathogens and viruses.
- ostensibly, GoF research is conducted for biodefense purposes in many countries.
- GoF experiments are extremely dangerous and there is evidence of outbreaks[4].
- these deadly science-enhanced pathogens can and do escape into the community where they infect and kill people – it is biological warfare.
Government officials and the recipients of government grants and contracts for GoF research argue that these experiments are critical for understanding the subtle changes that can make a virus a pandemic threat. GoF experiments have neither prevented a pandemic, nor provided useful information about safe and effective pandemic countermeasures.
We believe these high-risk experiments deviate from morally justifiable research, and these experimentally altered viruses and pathogens have put the entire human race at risk. Especially given the potential for a country such as China to ‘weaponise’ the products of Australian supported and funded research.
If you, and/or your government support these programs then it is time to stop.
The risks posed by influenza/virus GoF experiments include frequent documented escapes of deadly pathogens into the community, which have a potential for triggering a pandemic. These risks far outweigh any speculative benefits. What’s more, as Dr. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard and Dr. Alison Galvani of Yale argue:
“the creation and manipulation of potential pandemic pathogens are too risky to justify…there are safer more effective experimental approaches that are both more scientifically informative and more straightforward to translate into improved public health.” [PLoS Medicine, 2014][5]
The risk of laboratory enhanced transmissibility of influenza viruses is obvious. Dr. Andrew Pavia, Chief, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Utah stated:
“A readily transmitted H5N1 virus could be extraordinarily lethal; therefore, the risk for accidental release is significant, and deliberate misuse of the data to create a biological weapon is possible.”[6]
Many everyday Australians are asking why your government is not being proactive and protecting us from viruses by having both an end-to-end plan for managing the COVID-19 outbreak, and by cancelling support for research and collaboration with nations that may weaponise a virus and harm everyday Australians. Australians deserve to be safe.
Minister: can you advise what you and your government know about this GoF research and of the participation of CSIRO and Australian academic institutions?
Additionally, I have submitted a question on notice (QON): I have requested a copy of the terms of reference of your proposed review as well as detail on the composition of the review group, meeting times, how submissions may be made, attendance at meetings and importantly an undertaking from you that this will be a public inquiry with published results. I would be happy to discuss this matter with you further and await your advice.
Yours sincerely,
Senator Malcolm Roberts
Senator for Queensland
[1] https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/csiro-unis-in-10-joint-research-projects-with-wuhan-lab/news-story/5856c25b8a9036535eef9e9057f5d127
[2] Dr. Hume Field – EcoHealth Alliance
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/suspicion-of-wuhan-lab-ensnares-new-york-nonprofit-testing-bat-coronaviruses/2020/05/12/22d0d642-8f3c-11ea-8df0-ee33c3f5b0d6_story.html
[4] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/lab-incidents-lead-safety-crackdown-cdc
[5] Ethical Alternatives to Experiments with Novel Potential Pandemic Pathogens, Marck Lipsitch and Alison P. Galvani, PLoS
[6] Laboratory Creation of a Highly Transmissible H5N1 Influenza Virus: Balancing Substantial Risks and Real Benefits, Andrew T. Pavia, MD, Annals of Internal Medicine, 2012
