Report: NIH Spent Estimated $140 Million on Foreign Aid in 29 Countries for Animal Testing in 2020

The White Coat Waste Project issued a study indicating the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2020 spent an estimated $140 million of foreign aid for animal testing in at least 29 different countries.

“Our new analysis of federal spending data has uncovered that in 2020, the NIH spent an estimated $140 million on animal experiments in foreign countries where there’s little transparency and accountability about how animals are treated and how the money is spent,” the study stated.

“A total of 357 labs in 57 countries—including Russia and China—are currently authorized by NIH to receive your tax dollars for animal testing,” the study continues.

Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA) issued a statement on the study in which he said “Big government” is “out of control when millions of taxpayer dollars are being sent to dangerous bio-agent labs in China and to other foreign countries to conduct risky experiments.”

“To stop government waste and protect national security, we need answers about why the National Institutes of Health is spending our tax dollars on questionable research overseas,” he concluded.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has blocked any independent House investigation into the matter amid demands by Republicans.

Nevertheless, the National Institutes of Health’s NIH website shows that about 80 percent of “NIH funding goes to support research grants, including grants to foreign organizations.”

On July 1, the House Appropriations Committee joined the Senate’s initiative and voted to approve an amendment only prohibiting funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), after Dr. Anthony Fauci had approved nearly $1 million to be allocated to the lab located in Communist China.

Judicial Watch has also obtained records showing the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Fauci provided via EcoHealth the Wuhan lab at least $826,000 for coronavirus bat research from 2014 to 2019, beginning in former President Obama’s term.

Federal data suggests EcoHealth also received tens of millions in federal research dollars since 2004.

Federal government investigators launched a probe on June 15 into how the NIH “manages and monitors” its ongoing grant program to foreign laboratories, such as the lab in Wuhan.

The investigation is likely to include Peter Daszak, EcoHealth President, who thanked Fauci in April 2020 for publicly dismissing the theory that the coronavirus may have leaked from the lab, emails revealed.

Fauci defended himself against the “misconstrued” June 3 email by suggesting, “That email was from a person to me saying ‘thank you’ for whatever it is he thought I said, and I said that I think the most likely origin is a jumping of species.”

Fauci has admitted on May 25 the NIH funded the Wuhan lab but still denies “gain of function” funding of bat or other species experiments.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) disagreed with Fauci’s contention, stating he lied and committed perjury over his gain of function comments.

Meanwhile, on June 29, an NBC News Senior International Correspondent reported Dr. Shi Zhengli, called the “bat woman” and who is one of the top scientists at the WIV, “has multiple connections with military officials.”

“Shi and others collaborated with a military scientist on coronavirus research in spring 2018 and with another military scientist, Zhou Yusen, in December 2019,” the report explained. “In fall 2020, an article that scientist authored lists him in a footnote as deceased. NBC has been unable to ascertain the circumstances of his death.”