[vegandan]

We just needed new leadership. Probably would be a good idea to codify it into law so that it can’t be reconstituted by another administration.

[IMA-GregT]

👍

[Nancer]

Unfortunately, it only bans GOF in foreign countries. The EO essentially codifies GOF in the US by fine tuning research parameters here. It’s a nothing burger. Read the fine print.

[IMA-GregT]

👍 Always the fine print.

[Paul Smith]

I like virtually everything that Trump has done so far. He could go down in history as one of our greatest presidents. Unfortunately, the pendulum always swings. We are not doing a good job of protecting the country against all enemies both foreign and domestic.

That said, I am ecstatic that we are pulling funding for foreign GOF operations, especially those done by our enemies like China. Yes, unfortunately the work will continue in the US and that is risky from both safety and security perspectives. I just don’t understand why Fauci, et. al. are still walk free on our streets.

[IMA-GregT]

👍 We’re waiting for the Fauci point too. Waiting, waiting, waiting 🙂

[Jeff Gerber]

Pre-pandemic article 2017: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-to-permit-lab-poised-to-study-worlds-most-dangerous-pathogens/

“But worries surround the Chinese lab, too. The SARS virus has escaped from high-level containment facilities in Beijing multiple times, notes Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Tim Trevan, founder of CHROME Biosafety and Biosecurity Consulting in Damascus, Maryland, says that an open culture is important to keeping BSL-4 labs safe, and he questions how easy this will be in China, where society emphasizes hierarchy. “Diversity of viewpoint, flat structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important,” he says.”

Just think about that last sentence. The author was dead right. I think this is more than enough justification and reason.

scientificamerican.com

China to Permit Lab Poised to Study World's Most Dangerous Pathogens

Maximum-security biolab is part of a plan to build more of these facilities across the country

[IMA-GregT]

👍 Diversity of viewpoint!!! Some would say that’s heresy. A great point though..

[hiddenhill]

But he DIDN”T end funding and I just don’t get it! How could this ever have been signed and authorized and why leave out safety measures for humans against this man made debacle?? Would this order keep Fauci out of jail? Didn’t the previous order prohibit GOF research in the US and that is why “they” took it to China?

Very disappointed to say the least in our trusted commander in chief. Did he not read the fine print? …. hoping RFK raises a big stink about it!

[IMA-GregT]

👍

[dickatlee]

Yes, in the end it seems like the proverbial moving of chairs on the Titanic. It’s good that SOMETHING moved the dial a smidgeon, but it is beyond the US government’s capability to stop this kind of work, because it goes on all over the world, and nothing apparently will stop the galloping progress of the technology as it becomes cheaper and cheaper and headed for some misanthropic whiz-kid’s garage.

[IMA-GregT]

👍 I haven’t seen ‘smidgeon’ in a long, long while. Points well-made.