Trump Bans Biomedical Research in Other Countries

President Donald Trump on May 5 banned federal funding for gain-of-function research in other countries, including China, just weeks after his administration said that COVID-19 likely came from a Chinese laboratory that received U.S. funding. “It’s a big deal,” Trump said in the Oval Office while signing the executive order. “Could have been that we wouldn’t have had the problem we had if we had this done earlier.” The president’s order forbids federal funds from supporting risky research, which is aimed at increasing pathogenicity or another function of a virus, in other countries unless there is proper oversight....