Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Monday evening requested the Government Accountability Office to provide a comprehensive review of the biosafety measures of all G20 member nations in the name of pandemic preparedness.
“As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, biosafety and biosecurity issues have the potential to affect the international community. While the United States evaluates its own biosafety and biosecurity standards, precautions taken by other nations remain highly relevant,” wrote Select Subcommittee of the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and ranking member Raul Ruiz (D-CA).
FORMER FORD CEO PREDICTS ‘MASS ADOPTION’ OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES WILL BE ‘TOUGH’
🚨NEW🚨
Chairman @RepBradWenstrup and Ranking Member @RepRaulRuizMD joined forces today to request a report comparing American biosafety and biosecurity standards with existing policies in all G20 countries.
Gaps in oversight mechanisms for high-risk labs must be addressed👇 pic.twitter.com/W5pJSN2J9o
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) October 30, 2023
The request to the GAO comes after a subcommittee hearing earlier this month generated bipartisan interest in ways to monitor pathogen research outside of the United States.
An underlying reason for legislative interest in strengthening biosafety measures is the remaining questions on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and specifically the speculation that the virus originated in a lab-based incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Subcommittee members did not debate the origins of COVID-19 during the biosafety hearing this month. Rather, they emphasized that greater global coordination is necessary to prevent the possibility of such an event.
Expert witnesses at the hearing noted during the hearing that the World Health Organization and other public health arms of the United Nations do not have any effective enforcement mechanisms to implement existing guidelines on infectious disease research with pandemic potential.
The select subcommittee had previously scheduled a hearing on reforming the WHO to strengthen global health security and accountability, but the meeting was postponed indefinitely.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“As the Select Subcommittee continues to evaluate the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic, ensuring judicious, modernized biosafety and biosecurity practices are implemented across the world may help prevent a future health crisis,” the press release on the letter to the GAO read.
The letter to the GAO does not specify a time limit within which the subcommittee expects a response.
