GOP Accuses NIH of Misleading Congress and the Public on Monkeypox Research

House Republicans criticized the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday, accusing the federal agency of providing misleading information to Congress and the public regarding research on monkeypox viruses.

In an interim report from the GOP-led Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican members accused the NIH, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of misrepresenting monkeypox experiments that would have increased the viruses’ lethalness.

Committee leadership stated in a statement that, “In order to start rebuilding trust in our government health agency guidance, agencies like the NIH must be honest and transparent with Congress and the American people. This report demonstrates a disturbing lack of judgment and accountability from HHS, the NIH, and particularly, NIAID. It is unacceptable and demonstrates the clear need for reform.”

The investigation by the committee began almost 18 months ago after Dr. Bernard Moss of NIAID revealed plans to insert segments of a deadly strain of monkeypox into a more transmissible strain, as reported in a 2022 issue of Science magazine.

The experiments could have resulted in a virus with a fatality rate of 10% to 15%, according to the committee report.

Despite initial claims that the experiments were hypothetical and had not taken place, public records show that the risky research was approved by NIAID’s Institutional Biosafety Committee in June 2015.

The committee accused HHS, the NIH, and NIAID of failing to provide evidence to support their denial of conducting the experiments and criticized the lack of transparency in the process.

Republican committee aides highlighted a decline in cooperation between Congress and federal health agencies and emphasized the importance of improved biosafety measures following the monkeypox research and the COVID-19 origins investigation.

The investigation by the committee is ongoing.