A group of 24 Republican governors are urging the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> to reject a proposed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) global “pandemic treaty,” warning that it would endanger the rights of American citizens.
The governors <a href="https://governor.sc.gov/sites/governor/files/Documents/5.22.24%20Final%20Joint%20Letter%20WHO%20Pandemic%20Treaty.pdf">wrote</a> on Wednesday that the WHO’s proposal would encroach on the sovereignty of American states and put the civil liberties of Americans in the hands of a group of unelected global officials. The WHO has been widely criticized over its investigation of COVID&#8217;s emergence, especially as it pushed out a report that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-who-scientist-behind-report-questioning-covid-lab-leak-theory-axed-over-alleged-sexual-misconduct" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> the COVID lab leak theory as “extremely unlikely.”
“The objective of these instruments is to empower the WHO, particularly its uncontrollable Director-General, with the authority to restrict the rights of U.S. citizens, including freedoms such as speech, privacy, travel, choice of medical care, and informed consent, thus violating our Constitution’s core principles,” the governors wrote. 
According to a <a href="https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb9/A_inb9_3Rev1-en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">draft</a> of the WHO proposal, participating countries “shall cooperate with one another, in bilateral, regional and multilateral settings, to progressively strengthen pandemic prevention and public health surveillance capacities.”
The agreeing countries are also told to “recognize that environmental, climatic, social, anthropogenic and economic factors increase the risk of pandemics and endeavour to identify these factors and take them into consideration in the development and implementation of relevant policies, strategies and measures at the international, regional and national levels.”
Legacy media fact-checkers have downplayed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-who-is-using-a-covid-19-pandemic-treaty-to-create-a-new-global-health-security-architecture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerns</a> about the pandemic agreement, but the governors argued that joining the agreement would pose risks for the United States.
“If adopted, these agreements would seek to elevate the WHO from an advisory body to a global authority in public health,” they wrote. “Under the proposed amendments and treaty, the WHO’s Director-General would supposedly gain unilateral power to declare a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC) in member nations, extending beyond pandemics to include a range of perceived emergencies.”
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&#8220;Additional concerns arise regarding the establishment of a global surveillance infrastructure and requirements for member states to censor speech related to public health, potentially facilitating the proliferation of biological weapons,&#8221; the governors added. 
The governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming signed the letter. 
Negotiators are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pandemic-treaty-talks-wire-likely-miss-first-deadline-sources-say-2024-05-10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">still working</a> on coming up with the final &#8220;pandemic agreement&#8221; guidelines after a missed deadline for wrapping up talks.

TOPSHOT-SWITZERLAND-US-POLITICS-WHO-HEALTH-VIRUS-TRUMP

Republican Governors Issue Warning About WHO ‘Pandemic Treaty’

Biden Administration

COVID-19

Republicans

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) established an expert advisory group on transgender health, seeking guidance from a transgender former prostitute who called the line of work “empowering” and an academic attempting to popularize “genderf**king” as a critical legal theory.
The WHO’s Guidelines Development Group on the Health of Trans and Gender Diverse People was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gender-ideology-critics-slam-whos-biased-and-rushed-transgender-guidelines-process">established</a> to facilitate the creation of <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/18-12-2023-who-announces-the-development-of-a-guideline-on-the-health-of-trans-and-gender-diverse-people">guidelines</a> aimed at &#8220;increasing access and utilization of quality and respectful health services by trans and gender diverse people,&#8221; and establishing “health policies that support gender-inclusive care, and legal recognition of self-determined gender identity.”
Among the experts named by the WHO is Erika Castellanos, who the WHO <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/biographies_tgd-gdg_proposed_members_2024.pdf?sfvrsn=5b1e7491_3">says</a> is “a trans woman living with HIV from Belize who resides in the Netherlands.” Castellanos, a former prostitute, is a member of the International AIDS Society, where he <a href="https://www.iasociety.org/meet-our-members/erika-castellanos">focuses</a> on “youth engagement in HIV activism.” It also includes Florence Ashley, an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta and former clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, who the WHO <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/biographies_tgd-gdg_proposed_members_2024.pdf?sfvrsn=5b1e7491_3">describes</a> as a “transfeminine jurist and bioethicist whose work focuses on trans issues in the legal and healthcare systems.” His most recent work is on how to use &#8220;genderf**king&#8221; as a strategy to resist &#8220;gender governance.&#8221;
The WHO&#8217;s decision to staff the board with radical transgender activists calls into question the organization&#8217;s ability to objectively assess the medical consequences of interventions that attempt to modify one&#8217;s sex.
It told The Daily Wire that its recommendations &#8220;are always based on balancing of available evidence, human rights principles, consideration of harms and benefits, and inputs of end users and beneficiaries.&#8221;
The experts, however, are clearly out of the mainstream community, and have no health expertise. Castellanos <a href="https://www.erika-castellanos.com/blank-1">said</a> that he became an expert in the field by being a prostitute.
“Surviving migration, sex work and homelessness, all while being HIV positive and transgender, have made me strong and resilient in the work I do,” Castellanos noted in a biography. “I have had the opportunity to share my insights with young trans and HIV activists.”
Rather than just “surviving” prostitution, however, Castellanos says “sex work was the most empowering thing that ever happened to me,” explaining that he &#8220;started working in the streets, offering my sexual services” in Mexico after fleeing home, eventually using drugs and ending up in prison.
Castellanos is now engaged in various fields of activism, previously serving as a <a href="https://unaidspcbngo.org/delegate/erika-castellanos/">delegate</a> to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS on behalf of Trans United Europe, a “sex worker umbrella NGO for Trans Black People of Color (BPOC) and migrants from the global south.”
He’s also listed as the <a href="https://gate.ngo/about-us/people/#:~:text=Erika%27s%20background%20is%20in%20sex,dignified%20death%20for%20the%20clients.">Executive Director</a> of Global Action for Trans Equality, an <a href="https://gate.ngo/">organization</a> that calls itself “an international advocacy and expert organization focused on gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.” The organization’s site explains that “Erika’s background is in sex work issues and HIV activism.”
Florence Ashley, another transgender activist who was appointed to the WHO&#8217;s Guidelines Development Group, describes <a href="https://www.florenceashley.com/">himself</a> as “metaphorically a biorg witch with flowers in their hair” and is the author of an <a href="https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=098115008081070091089119075105027090008027046078024071069076074124101102011120080118041001120035023028110097001084067021001068029091024062067121094110116079079066030055045081094107083121098095007015025121025118002069084118029001015027067022117004081021&amp;EXT=pdf&amp;INDEX=TRUE">article</a> set to be published in the McGill University Law Journal titled “Genderf**king as a Critical Legal Methodology,” where he discusses ways to resist “gender governance.”
“Genderf**king is defined by its focus on the needs and experiences of those who ‘f**k’ with gender, resisting attempts at gender governance through laws, policies, and practices,” an abstract from the article reads before going on to claim that the approach “offers a rich and fertile approach for analyzing a social, political, and legal world indelibly marked by regimes of gender and, in so doing, steps on the path towards gender liberation.”
The 34-page article expounds on the approach through “stylistic” means, namely, sexually charged humor. “The present article as well as several of the past writings I mention include puns and jokes, many of them sexual. More than incidental, I would suggest that these stylistic elements are an extension of genderf**king’s substance into the realm of form and style,” the paper reads before explaining that the theory can also be used to challenge academic standards. “For just as genderfucking rejects the politician’s idea that gender must be policed, so does it reject the academician’s idea that writing must be policed. The name ‘genderfucking’ itself offers a challenge to dominant mores around sex and profanity.”
Ashley goes on to ask “Are sex jokes not a celebration of scholarly fucking? Is there not something peculiarly trans about sex jokes?”
The article also addresses transgender identification among youth, claiming “Regardless of whether youth know their gender well, nobody is better placed to navigate the world of gender in their name. Only they can catch glimpses or gaze upon the shape of their gender mosaic.” Ashley goes on to apply his specific approach, writing, “Under a genderf**king lens, gender self-determination seems the only way to properly account for the needs of all trans youth, including those who defy attempts at disciplining gender.”
He also explains that the concept of “genderf**king” is intended for those “whose gender is an eldritch horror adorning a seven-dimensional tentacle c*ck. People whose gender oscillates so fast that it undergoes spontaneous fission.”
“You can’t handle the truth of their gender,&#8221; Ashley wrote.
Ashley <a href="https://medium.com/@florence.ashley/things-ive-called-my-gender-over-my-26-years-of-life-9179631ab34f">produced an extensive list</a> of largely nonsensical terms that he’s used to refer to his gender, which includes the words and phrases “alien,” “alienby,” “trashgender,” “gender malcontent,” “deception,” and “unfathomable swirling void.”
Ashley, whose placement on the WHO advisory board <a href="https://twitter.com/libbyemmons/status/1743999902726709709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1743999902726709709%7Ctwgr%5E5abfa92d77895e0494bc5d8b4822871e10cf36a2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecollegefix.com%2Ftrans-professor-with-be-gay-do-crimes-tattoo-appointed-to-who-taskforce%2F">sparked</a> criticism online,  has <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/biographies_tgd-gdg_proposed_members_2024.pdf?sfvrsn=5b1e7491_3">informed</a> the WHO that he is &#8220;unable to attend due to a conflict in schedules.&#8221;
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, the Director of <a href="https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&amp;ai=Cqg9s7xagZaPUF7G16toPyuOb2AfqhIP8dMSf0pbrEaqs6xsIABABILlUYMmm3ozgpNAUoAGUxZTGKMgBAcgD2CCqBFxP0Bd_9qf7mK26X9vL8wyQ2_guFATm6Qzvb5vMEhRdI6-UUxYZUOougaDWvpsY29jVwXb0aBfp7ypieAzg6dAT6sS1KOsTpnQxsJxHCIsaHCr7jTXlyFM9dZYwjMAEq4yYlcwEgAWQTogF0OC06k2gBmaAB5T95KUDiAcBkAcBqAfruLECqAemvhuoB7masQKoB_PRG6gH7tIbqAf_nLECqAfK3BuoB5KvsQKoB7uksQKoB5KmsQKoB9imsQKoB961sQKoB9uqsQKoB9CqsQKoB9ywsQKoB7-5sQKoB-qxsQKoB6q4sQKoB5S4sQKoB-y4sQKoB763sQKoB7K7sQKoB7O7sQKgCMiPpgSwCAHSCCYQAjIEg-CADjoJwuGAgICABIJAQgEESNHs8ypQCVjjh9mv4NWDA5oJHWh0dHBzOi8vZG9ub2hhcm1tZWRpY2luZS5vcmcvsQmBaxYL1YR1a7kJgWsWC9WEdWv4CQGYCwGqDAIIAegMBqoNAlVTyA0BghQOCAMSCmRvIG5vIGhhcm3IFNXE_u7ovs_nZNAVAfgWAYAXAZIXCRIHCAEQAxiSA-AXAg&amp;ae=2&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAwP6sBhDAARIsAPfK_waf8CA5hn0wpT-7JPdZePF1tOMFislnRKIIImR6OFVOFRV-P1GhrFYaAvcoEALw_wcB&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiQ2dCv4NWDAxVamIQIHWKZA_sQ0Qx6BAgCEAE&amp;nis=8&amp;dct=1&amp;cid=CAASFeRoM9ecC-fAT9Gf841c4yrGPd7PLQ&amp;dblrd=1&amp;sival=AF15MEDkfu_pwEqZzK2s2h4DdrM6lscvKkq5NhagFIQ2WUejSCh8Qzm0CQk0WHkTXqrVbp7_U6Zbmvk2AO6oionGhIHZXoAvMqRE3GvAWra22sg2l4ZUUybkd8mUsmYsZ9vouQRqkJ1sYd3E0u0_Od6-dXMiS5UnmvnQox6aExbXKBlUZDASA-o&amp;sig=AOD64_0Kk0wS3niecb11KqTeeINOEQtNRA&amp;adurl=https://donoharmmedicine.org/%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3D20231222%26utm_term%3Dbrand%26utm_content%3Dv1">Do No Harm</a>, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the politicization of medicine, warned that the WHO&#8217;s guide development group will likely ignore the increasing body of literature that challenges the basis of support for medical interventions intended to modify a person&#8217;s sex.
“At a time when the European community is in the midst of a great re-examination of the entire edifice of so-called ‘gender affirming care,’ it is indeed unfortunate that the world health organization has decided to enlist a number of gender activists to create new guidance,&#8221; Goldfarb remarked. &#8220;Guideline formation should be first based on a careful and comprehensive review of the medical literature. If this is done, these activists must come to the conclusion that &#8216;gender affirming care&#8217; should be dramatically curtailed as has occurred in five European nations.&#8221;
&#8220;Unfortunately, the World Health Organization&#8217;s choice of individuals suggest that their present commitment to this activity will prevent them from approaching this problem in an evenhanded and rigorously scientific approach,&#8221; Goldfarb continued.
The WHO defended its decision to establish the guidelines and development group, telling The Daily Wire its recommendations &#8220;are always based on balancing of available evidence, human rights principles, consideration of harms and benefits, and inputs of end users and beneficiaries. &#8221;
But Castellanos and Ashley are just two of the leftwing trans activists that the WHO placed on the Guidelines Development Group. There are also four individuals associated with the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), the organization that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leading-transgender-health-association-releases-new-guidelines">removed minimum age requirements</a> for medical interventions, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy, and sex change operations from its medical guidelines.
Two former presidents of WPATH, Walter Bouman and Gail Knudson, are included in the WHO’s guidelines development group.
Critics of gender ideology have blasted the WHO over its Guidelines Development Group, launching a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gender-ideology-critics-slam-whos-biased-and-rushed-transgender-guidelines-process">petition</a> called “WHO Decides?” that objects to the “biased panel tasked with creating new transgender health guidelines.”
“Of the 21 panel members, over three-fourths are transgender activists. The few physicians either specialize in HIV or are ‘gender doctors,’” the <a href="https://who-decides.org/">petition</a> reads before adding “There is currently a worldwide explosion of teenagers wishing to undergo a sex change; WHO’s stated plan to promote hormones and “legal recognition of self-identified gender” will harm innumerable gender-dysphoric youth, gays, lesbians and other women.”

World Health Organization Named Former Prostitute, ‘Genderf**king’ Theorist To Transgender Health Expert Board

gender ideology

trans

Transgender

A group of gender ideology critics has launched a petition against the World Health Organization&#8217;s (WHO) ongoing process to develop transgender health guidelines.
The WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/18-12-2023-who-announces-the-development-of-a-guideline-on-the-health-of-trans-and-gender-diverse-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> its plan to advance new transgender guidelines on December 18. Several WHO departments that deal with gender, equity, and sexual health are working together on the guidelines.
They will advise on &#8220;health sector interventions&#8221; aimed at increasing &#8220;respectful health services&#8221; for trans-identifying and &#8220;gender diverse&#8221; people, the WHO said. Among other things, the guidelines will focus on &#8220;gender-affirming care,&#8221; including hormones, health policies that support &#8220;gender-inclusive care,&#8221; health care for trans-identifying people who have suffered &#8220;interpersonal violence,&#8221; and legal recognition of self-determined gender identity.
The <a href="https://who-decides.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">petition</a> from gender ideology critics is dubbed &#8220;WHO Decides?&#8221; and says the signers &#8220;strongly object&#8221; to the &#8220;highly biased&#8221; panel tasked with coming up with the guidelines.
More than three-fourths of the WHO panel&#8217;s 21 members are transgender activists, the petitioners claim, and the few physicians are either HIV specialists or “gender doctors.” The panel also does not include any child development experts or detransitioners, people who transitioned but then regretted it, the petitioners noted.
&#8220;There is currently a worldwide explosion of teenagers wishing to undergo a sex change,&#8221; the petitioners say. &#8220;The majority of the panel members have expressed strong views in favor of hormonal and surgical interventions for transition, dismissed known and potential risks associated with these interventions, and denigrated psychotherapeutic approaches as &#8216;conversion therapy.'&#8221;
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The petition calls on the WHO to cancel its first meeting in February and &#8220;go back to the drawing board.&#8221;
Currently, the panel is set to meet on February 19 to offer its recommendations at the WHO&#8217;s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WHO is offering a public comment period of just three weeks that fell over Christmas and New Year&#8217;s Day and will end on January 8. The petitioners noted that most people are &#8220;unplugged&#8221; and celebrating the holidays during this time.
The petition currently has more than 3,600 signatures from pediatricians, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, parents of trans-identifying children, teachers, counselors, nurses, professors, and even one person who self-identified as a &#8220;transsexual.&#8221;
Several groups signed the petitions, including the LGBT Courage Coalition, Sex Matters, LGB Alliance, Transgender Trend, Gender Dysphoria Alliance, and Therapy First.
In recent years, several countries in Europe have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/englands-national-health-service-abandons-gender-affirming-model-of-care">pumped the brakes</a> on both transgender social transitions and medical interventions for children. This came after detransitioners started speaking out about how it had harmed them.

SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-VIRUS-WHO

Gender Ideology Critics Slam WHO’s ‘Biased’ And ‘Rushed’ Transgender Guidelines Process

Gender Ideology Critics Slam WHO's 'Biased' And 'Rushed' Transgender Guidelines Process

Gender

Social Issues

World

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WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted that any allegation that his organization was close to China was an “outright lie.”
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Tedros was <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/who-chief-denies-he-sided-with-china-at-start-of-covid-outright-lie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> by National Review reporter Jimmy Quinn if he regretted his initial handling of Covid, as concerns had been expressed that he had hewed too close to Beijing&#8217;s line.
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“At one point or the other, we had issues with many countries,” Tedros responded. “If we had issues with many countries, it means maybe we’re doing the right thing. But the allegation that we’re close to China or something is an outright lie, actually.”
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“People who try to build narratives, they say that,” he continued. “But from what happened, start from there, and until now, if you’ll see all the relationships we had with countries, and some of the misunderstandings with countries, sometimes with this country the other opposite allegation with the other, it’s because we focus on science.”
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In June 2022, it was <a href="https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus/193248/who-boss-secretly-blames-china-lab-for-covid-leak" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Tedros &#8220;privately believes the Covid pandemic started following a leak from a Chinese laboratory,&#8221; according to a top government official. &#8220;While publicly the group maintains that ‘all hypotheses remain on the table’ about the origins of Covid, the source said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), had recently confided to a senior European politician that the most likely explanation was a catastrophic accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, where infections first spread in late 2019.&#8221;
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In May 2020, a <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/corona-ausbruch-vertuscht-muss-china-fuer-die-pandemie-schaeden-zahlen-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000170816271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from Der Spiegel</a> claimed WHO officials communicated with the Chinese government, and might have deliberately delayed giving other countries critical information about the spread of the novel coronavirus after being pressured by China and its president, Xi Jinping.
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The report claimed that BND, the German Federal Intelligence Service, discovered that &#8220;Xi met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 21&#8221; and asked WHO to delay reporting accurate information about the novel coronavirus, The Daily Caller reported.
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WHO called the report “unfounded and untrue,&#8221; saying that the two had never spoken over phone.
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Later, Tedros praised China, saying he appreciated the information the communist country provided to WHO.
&#8220;If you remember at the initial stage, you remember about the sequence, they provided the sequence immediately, and we appreciated that they shared the sequence of the virus Sars-CoV-2 immediately. And then there were other things like especially the measures they were taking on Wuhan to slow the speed of the spread to the rest of the world. And we identified that and we encouraged them to do that, because slowing the spread is very important,&#8221; he said.
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‘Outright Lie’: World Health Organization Chief Denies Hewing To China’s Line

China

A Danish scientist who headed up the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a>’s investigation into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> over the origin of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a> has been fired over alleged sexual misconduct.
According to a new report from The Financial Times, Peter Ben Embarek <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/fires-scientist-led-covid-search-sex-misconduct-99068991" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was fired</a> last year from the WHO after the organization said that they had found he was guilty of sexual misconduct following an investigation. Embarek was known for leading a WHO team investigation into the origins of COVID that declared the lab leak theory as “extremely unlikely.”
“Peter Ben Embarek was dismissed following findings of sexual misconduct against him and corresponding disciplinary process,” WHO spokeswoman Marcia Poole said. “The findings concern allegations relating to 2015 and 2017 that were first received by the WHO investigations team in 2018.”
Poole said that there were other “victim(s) [who] did not wish to engage with the investigation process.”
Embarek <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/who-dismisses-lead-covid-origins-investigator-sexual-misconduct-2023-05-03/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Reuters that he was in the dark about allegations made against him, but said that a 2017 incident “was settled immediately in a friendly way.&#8221;
&#8220;I am not aware of any other complaints and no other complaints have ever been brought to my attention,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I duly contest the qualification of harassment and I am quite hopeful in the defense of my rights.&#8221;
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While Embarek and the WHO’s report was skeptical of the lab leak theory, recent reports from both the Energy Department and the Senate gave credence to the possibility that COVID escaped out of a lab in China and was not a natural occurrence.
According to the report from a Senate health committee, the theory that COVID escaped from a lab, which was widely criticized at the beginning of the pandemic, had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/covid-likely-leaked-from-wuhan-lab-senate-gop-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good evidence</a> to support it.
“The preponderance of circumstantial evidence supports an unintentional research-related incident,” the report said.
“This report is a crucial development in getting to the bottom of COVID-19’s true origins and exposing the deception of those that sought to conceal how this pandemic started,” <a href="https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-marshall-releases-bombshell-covid-19-origins-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. “A preponderance of evidence in this report suggests there were two separate unintentional lab leaks dating back to fall of 2019 in Wuhan, China with significant evidence supporting that COVID-19 was a lab-created and altered virus.”

WHO-China Joint Study Press Conference In Wuhan

Communist China

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Sexual Misconduct

World Health Organization officials warned Tuesday that an &#8220;extremely, extremely dangerous&#8221; situation threatens public health after fighters in conflict-ravaged Sudan occupied a central national laboratory carrying samples of deadly diseases, including polio and cholera.
&#8220;There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab&#8230; by one of the fighting parties,&#8221; Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO&#8217;s representative in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva, observed by <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12011135/WHO-warns-huge-biological-risk-Sudan-fighters-storm-national-laboratory.html">The Daily Mail</a>.
Hundreds of civilians and paramilitary forces were killed or injured in a series of airstrikes in Khartoum last week as the Sudanese army bombed positions held by the country&#8217;s RSF paramilitary group in a power struggle that some international observers fear could ignite a full-blown civil war.
Abid said fighters took over the Khartoum laboratory in the African country and &#8220;kicked out all the technicians from the lab&#8230; which is completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base,&#8221; NBC <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sudan-virus-risk-world-health-organization-says-lab-occupied-disease-samples/">reported</a>. However, the health official did not specify which of the two warring factions gained control of the public health facility.
Abid sounded the alarm, noting that the lab carries a range of deadly diseases, including measles, polio, and cholera while warning chemical and bio-risk hazards also pose a high risk due to a lack of functioning generators.
The head of Khartoum&#8217;s national lab reportedly broke the news to Abid on Monday via phone call, one day before both military groups agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire following &#8220;intense&#8221; negotiations brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
World Health officials reported on Tuesday that the Sudanese health ministry had tallied at least 459 deaths and over 4,000 others injured. Five deaths included aid workers from two United Nations agencies: the International Organization for Migration and the World Food Programme. Both groups have since suspended their operations.
&#8220;In areas where intense fighting has hampered our humanitarian operations, we have been forced to reduce our footprint,&#8221; Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian office, said. &#8220;But we are committed to continue to deliver for the people of Sudan,&#8221; adding the team would lead humanitarian operations out of Port Sudan after transferring from Khartoum.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it&#8217;s bracing for approximately 270,000 people to flee Sudan into neighboring countries after thousands have escaped.
The Biden administration defended the State Department&#8217;s decision this week to evacuate embassy personnel from Sudan while taking limited steps to aid thousands of Americans thought to still be in the country.
The U.S. Department of State has estimated that 16,000 Americans remain in Sudan. Still, the government does not have a firm count because Americans living or traveling abroad are not required to check in or make their plans known to the U.S. government.
Still, officials said they have refrained from launching broader evacuation efforts for Americans in Sudan because of the region&#8217;s instability.
Blinken said that many Americans currently in Sudan are dual citizens who do not want to leave the country despite its deteriorating conditions.
&#8220;The overwhelming majority of Americans citizens in Sudan are dual nationals who made their lives there, who have been living there for years, decades, for generations, and many want to continue to do that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But for those who are seeking to leave, we will continue to engage directly with them to see what we can do to help them, and, like I said, with allies and partners as well to help facilitate their departure.&#8221;
Tim Pearce and Zach Jewell contributed to this report.

Ceasefire for 72 hours after clashes in Sudan

WHO Warns ‘Huge Biological Risk’ Threatens Public Health After Sudan Fighters Occupy Lab Carrying Deadly Diseases

WHO Warns 'Huge Biological Risk' Threatens Public Health After Sudan Fighters Occupy Lab Carrying Deadly Diseases

Antony Blinken

Disease

Sudan

Everything is in flux following a report that the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded that the virus that causes COVID likely leaked from a coronavirus lab in Wuhan, China.
Since then, there have been other unsettling reports that shine a spotlight on just who said what and when.
For instance, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s recently retired leading infectious disease expert, had long sought to sell the idea that the virus emerged naturally. Nearly three years ago, Fauci cited a study that found the virus’s mutations “consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
“There was a study recently,” Fauci told reporters on April 17, 2020, when asked if it was possible that virus came from a Chinese lab, “where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.&#8221;
“So, the paper will be available. I don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,&#8221; Fauci said.
But new emails revealed by House Republicans show a completely different story. The emails indicate Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; that very study to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan. In fact, he had final approval of the scientific paper he had commissioned, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/05/new-emails-show-fauci-commissioned-paper-to-disprove-wuhan-lab-leak-theory/">reported</a>.
Enter Dr. Jeremy Farrer. Like Fauci, he &#8220;prompted&#8221; the scientific paper. Farrar was then the head of the British nonprofit, the Wellcome Trust, which has long ties to the pharmaceutical industry. On the day the paper was published, emails show Farrar pushed for an edit to the piece. &#8220;Sorry to micromanage/micro edit! But would you be willing to change one sentence?”
He wanted to change the word “unlikely” to “improbable” so a sentence would read: “It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.”
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Now, Farrar is about to become chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO). He is set to take the six-figure role in the second quarter of this year after stepping down as director of Wellcome.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a doctor, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11826847/Experts-call-lab-leak-denying-doctor-Jeremy-Farrar-sacked-World-Health-Organization.html">told</a> DailyMail.com that he opposes Farrar&#8217;s appointment.
&#8220;Jeremy Farrar, the guy who then publicly disdained the lab leak theory despite privately admitting he was still 50:50 on the lab leak should not be in charge of the WHO or any investigations into the origins of Covid,&#8221; Paul told the U.K. paper.
The Mail reported that emails leaked last year show Farrar privately expressed concern that COVID could have leaked from a lab in February 2020. &#8220;He famously told Dr. Anthony Fauci and colleagues that he was 50:50 between a lab leak and natural origin,&#8221; the paper said.
But just weeks later, Farrar signed his name to a letter in the Lancet medical publication denouncing the lab leak hypothesis as nothing more than a &#8220;conspiracy theory.&#8221;
Dr. David Livermore, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia in the U.K., also told the Mail WHO should reconsider Farrar&#8217;s appointment.
&#8220;He first privately speculated on a lab leak origin for Covid. Yet, he then added his signature to a notorious Lancet letter seeking to debunk the lab leak theory. If he is to lead the WHO, it would be wise for Dr. Farrar to commission investigations of Covid&#8217;s origins entirely independent of the Organization&#8217;s hierarchy, himself included,&#8221; Livermore said.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Dr. Fauci Testifies Before Senate Committee On Federal Response To COVID-19

Sen. Rand Paul Says COVID Lab Leak-Denying Doctor Should NOT Be WHO’s Top Scientist

 Sen. Rand Paul Says COVID Lab Leak-Denying Doctor Jeremy Farrar Should Be Fired From New Post As World Health Organization's Top Scientist

Anthony Fauci

Rand Paul

Wuhan Institute of Virology

With Republicans now in control of the House, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/temporary-conflict-is-necessary-rep-chip-roy-touts-speaker-vote-concessions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)</a> reintroduced legislation Thursday to defund the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a> and raised concerns about China&#8217;s influence over the group.
The bill, titled ‘‘No Taxpayer Funding for the World Health Organization Act,&#8221; cracks down on contributions to the WHO that have <a href="https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">risen to hundreds of millions of dollars</a> annually, making the United States one of the United Nations agency&#8217;s largest donors.
&#8220;Funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to the corrupt World Health Organization that serves the Chinese Communist Party is a slap in the face to hardworking American families struggling under record high inflation, and to all those whose lives and livelihoods were ruined and destroyed by the COVID pandemic,&#8221; Roy said in a statement given to The Daily Wire.
The legislation takes aim at the two types of contributions to the WHO. &#8220;Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, the United States may not provide any assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization,&#8221; the bill states.
Assessed contributions are &#8220;required dues a government agrees to pay when it becomes a member,&#8221; while voluntary contributions &#8220;fluctuate annually and are often earmarked for specific projects,&#8221; <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11369" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Congressional Research Service</a>.
Roy, a conservative who is a firm believer in Congress&#8217; &#8220;power of the purse&#8221; as a means to enact change, has accused the WHO of &#8220;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rep-chip-roy-dems-more-supportive-of-china-than-protecting-american-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">siding with the communists in China</a>&#8221; over concerns that the group helped Beijing <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FINAL_Letter-to-WHO-re-China-Pressure-.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cover up the origins of the coronavirus pandemic</a>. His bill is the latest salvo in recent years over U.S. contributions to the WHO as the group faced scrutiny for how it responded to the health crisis.
Then-President Donald Trump announced in the spring of 2020 that he intended to halt funding to the WHO while his administration reviewed its handling of COVID. He <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-he-halting-funding-world-health-organization-n1183941" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused the group</a> of &#8220;severely mismanaging and covering up&#8221; the threat.
Trump&#8217;s declaration prompted condemnation from Democrats.
“President Trump must stop his petty, counterproductive political games,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/trump-world-health-organization-funding-186786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)</a>, who was chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee at the time. “The coronavirus cannot just be defeated here in the United States, it has to be defeated in every conceivable location throughout the world.”
Soon after taking office in January 2021, Biden wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to say the United States no longer planned to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-united-states-will-withdraw-from-the-world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdraw its membership</a> from the group. Meanwhile, Biden&#8217;s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, announced the United States <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-who-support-006ed181e016afa55d4cea30af236227" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would resume supporting</a> the World Health Organization and join its COVAX vaccine initiative to distribute COVID vaccines around the world.
At the time, Roy quickly <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/419?r=6&amp;s=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced legislation</a> to slash WHO funding, but the House, then controlled by the Democrats, did not take any action on the bill. From 2020-2021, the United States was the third largest donor to the WHO, investing nearly $700 million, <a href="https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the group reported last May</a>. Only Germany and the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation contributed more money in that timeframe.
Roy&#8217;s new bill stands a better chance for consideration with Republicans now running the lower chamber, but it still faces long odds to become law with Democrats still in charge of the Senate and Biden in the White House.
&#8220;The WHO not only regularly promotes abortion and radical gender ideology but also praised China for their &#8216;leadership&#8217; at the beginning of COVID-19 and has done nothing to hold the CCP accountable for the spread of COVID-19,&#8221; Roy said in his statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;It is far past time for Congress to use its power of the purse to cut off US funding to this corrupt international body just like the Trump Administration did.&#8221;

Chip Roy

Chip Roy Unveils Bill To Defund The World Health Organization

Congress

Politics

U.S. House of Representatives

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> stood by its strategy regarding its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a> outbreak after the World Health Organization (WHO) called the country out on Wednesday, saying they are not providing the whole picture.
The escalation in rhetoric is a reversal from the WHO’s previous practice early in the pandemic of appearing to go easy on China.
“We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva Wednesday.
“WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalization, severe disease, and death,” he said.
WHO Executive Director for Health Emergencies Mike Ryan reportedly also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/china/china-covid-outbreak-who-data-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230104-china-stats-under-represent-true-impact-of-covid-outbreak-who" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wednesday</a> that the current figures China is putting out &#8220;under-represent the true impact of the disease” when it comes to deaths, hospital, and intensive care numbers.
Mao Ning, China&#8217;s foreign ministry spokesperson, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-china-idAFKBN2TK05P" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was asked about</a> the WHO&#8217;s comments at a regular press <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202301/t20230105_11001406.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">briefing</a> in Beijing on Thursday.
&#8220;Since COVID began, China has shared information and data with the international community in an open and transparent manner. We shared the genome sequence of the virus at the earliest opportunity, making important contribution to the drug and vaccine research and development in countries around the world,&#8221; she claimed.
&#8220;Facts have proven that China has always maintained close communication with the WHO and shared information and data on the epidemic in a timely, open and transparent manner in accordance with law. At the moment, China’s COVID situation is under control. As China adjusts its COVID response policy, we will continue to carry out activities including technical exchanges with the WHO. It is hoped that the WHO Secretariat will take a science-based, objective and just position and play a positive role in addressing the pandemic globally,&#8221; she added.
She was also asked about President Joe Biden, who said Wednesday he is worried about how the country is addressing the disease.
&#8220;We also call on all parties to take science-based and proportionate response measures not targeting any specific country, avoid remarks and actions that politicize the epidemic, jointly safeguard normal people-to-people exchange and work together for an early victory over the pandemic,&#8221; she responded in part.
Chinese authorities said they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/biden-raises-concern-over-chinas-covid-response-after-who-questions-data-2023-01-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a> the health situation with the WHO and its member states on Thursday. They said there had been one new COVID death for Wednesday on the mainland, which was down from a previous rate of five per day.
The country recently got rid of its COVID restrictions, leading to concerns of a widespread outbreak across the country due to the intense lockdowns that the government has imposed on its citizens. Funeral homes across the country have been feeling <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/bodies-pile-up-in-china-as-covid-surge-overwhelms-crematoriums" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strained</a> as they fill up.
China’s lack of forthrightness may not be surprising to many people around the world who watched as the country likely hid information about COVID in the early months of the pandemic, resulting in the massive spread of the virus across the globe.
During the early days of the pandemic, the WHO appeared to be less interested in China’s lack of reporting, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/china/china-covid-outbreak-who-data-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> criticism for not getting the country to release more important information.
A Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-note-serious-problems-in-coronavirus-response-the-world-health-organization-keeps-praising-them/2020/02/08/b663dd7c-4834-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from February of 2020 detailed how the WHO backed China early on before the virus shut down the globe. The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, even praised the “transparency” of China’s reaction to the virus.
Tedros did eventually <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/asia/who-report-criticism-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admit</a> that China had not been helpful in providing information for the WHO’s COVID report that was released last year.
On Wednesday, Biden <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/biden-raises-concern-over-chinas-covid-response-after-who-questions-data-2023-01-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weighed</a> in on China’s response, saying he was worried about how the country is dealing with COVID. “China has not been … they&#8217;re very sensitive &#8230; when we suggest they haven&#8217;t been that forthcoming,&#8221; Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/04/remarks-by-president-biden-before-air-force-one-departure-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the press.
“There’s a lot more data that needs to be shared from China and additionally from around the world so that we can track this pandemic as we enter this fourth year,” Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO said Wednesday.
“We need more information on sequencing around the country, (and for) those sequences to be shared with publicly available databases like GISAID so that deeper analyses can be done,” she added.

A9B5200B-1CE9-4E85-9362-23F64539DC26_1_201_a

China Stands By Its COVID Strategy After WHO Criticizes

Executive

Joe Biden

A Republican senator said President Joe Biden is this year’s Grinch for weaponizing the government to censor or attack Americans for engaging in &#8220;misinformation&#8221; by questioning official government lines.
“You better watch out! President Biden is making a list and checking it twice. Going to find out who is being naughty…exercising their constitutional rights,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said Tuesday.
Ernst urged the Biden administration’s National Science Foundation to pull funding for a $5 million grant to a group called Hacks/Hackers to make software that would essentially turn American citizens into online bots. The tool will ask them to paste in their friends’ tweets and Facebook posts to be told whether they constituted “harmful” “misinformation.” If so, the software will generate rebuttals offering the official positions of groups like the World Health Organization, and ask them to copy-and-paste them as replies to their friends’ posts as if they were their own words. The grant came to light through a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-pay-journalism-group-5m-to-create-software-to-turn-people-into-anti-misinformation-bots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Wire investigation</a> on December 1.
In addition to the software, called the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-pay-journalism-group-5m-to-create-software-to-turn-people-into-anti-misinformation-bots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust</a> (ARTT), Hacks/Hackers also hired people for a project to help determine which news outlets are “credible” when it comes to vaccine information and which aren’t. Those who don&#8217;t get the seal of approval won&#8217;t be able to be cited on Wikipedia.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-469649 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ss1-1021x576.png" alt="" width="1021" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-1021x576.png 1021w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-768x433.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1.png 1468w" sizes="(max-width: 1021px) 100vw, 1021px" /></div>
“To no one’s surprise, liberal outlets, like The New York Times, made Hack/Hackers’ nice list for being ‘reliable.’ The naughty list of ‘unreliable’ or ‘conspiracy’ sources predictably includes conservative-leaning media, like The Daily Wire, which coincidentally exposed this new Washington enemies list!” Ernst wrote.
“I am giving my December 2022 Squeal Award to ‘the minister of misinformation’ himself, President Biden, for promoting blatant falsehoods while his administration is steering tax dollars into these Soviet-style propaganda tactics that target citizens and media who dare question the administration’s narrative,” Ernst said. She bestows the <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/priorities/make-em-squeal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">award</a> monthly on an example of pork-like or abusive government spending.
In an effort to &#8220;pull the plug on this taxpayer-funded troll service,” she wrote to the National Science Foundation&#8217;s director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, that &#8220;We really do not need a return to the dark days when some in Washington maintained an ‘enemies lists’ of fellow citizens and journalists with opposing viewpoints. Instead, the NSF would much better serve taxpayers by supporting our nation’s bright young minds with initiatives to improve math and science education rather than these efforts to troll taxpayers online.&#8221;
She said that the World Health Organization, which is involved in the ARTT project and which the software’s creators take as the north star of truth, has repeatedly been wrong.
“Bending to China’s propaganda machine, a WHO representatives not only announced it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that COVID-19 might have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting dangerous studies on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/coronavirus-loan-fraud-prevention-fell-to-unvetted-firms-that-profited-hugely-while-ignoring-fraud-congress-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coronaviruses</a> in the very city where the pandemic began, but that a lab leak ‘isn’t a hypothesis we suggest implies further study.’ Does NSF believe these are credible statements based on reliable facts and sound scientific evidence?” Ernst asked the director.
“WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has gone as far as saying, &#8216;We appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated,&#8217;” she wrote.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-470135" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ss2.png" alt="" width="1361" height="814" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2.png 1361w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-300x179.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-963x576.png 963w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-768x459.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1361px) 100vw, 1361px" /></div>
“It is very disappointing that taxpayer dollars would be spent on this project when our nation is facing a dire shortage of STEM teachers who are vital to inspiring others to pursue careers in the sciences,” she added.
In the Biden administration, a full gamut of government agencies have taken it upon themselves to try to stop Americans from spreading what it deems “misinformation” online, despite it repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dhs-officially-shuts-down-disinformation-board-after-longtime-pause" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backfiring</a>.
The federal laboratory that designed the atomic bomb, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atomic-bomb-lab-studying-ways-to-combat-misinformation-including-covid-lab-leak-theory">Los Alamos National Laboratories</a>, dedicated eight staff to a study on how to &#8220;combat&#8221; &#8220;misinformation&#8221; that had nothing to do with its field of energy. One of the &#8220;conspiracies&#8221; was that the coronavirus had escaped, accidentally or intentionally, from a lab in China. Los Alamos boasted about its study in September, omitting the nature of the &#8220;conspiracy&#8221; it wanted to learn how to suppress — which by then was widely accepted as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-investigation-concludes-covid-likely-originated-from-a-chinese-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely</a>.
Both Los Alamos and ARTT said they are using coronavirus as just a pilot program to learn how to police Americans&#8217; speech on other topics in the future, and NSF’s “Convergence Accelerator” has funded several programs similar to ARTT.
In announcing her Squeal Award, Ernst wrote: “Here is a fact: Iowans and most Americans don’t trust Washington and don’t want the government or some state-sponsored group to tell us what we can and cannot think, say, or believe. And we certainly don’t want the Biden administration spending our hard-earned tax dollars to keep lists of approved and unapproved opinions or encouraging citizens to troll their friends with government-generated propaganda.”
“If this effort was applied to statements by the Biden administration, the ‘fact checkers’ would be working overtime countering the disinformation being spread by the president himself. Such as the president’s false claim that he ‘cut the federal debt in half — a fact!’”

Minnesota Vikings v Detroit Lions

Senator Blasts Biden For Compiling ‘Naughty List’ Of Peddlers Of ‘Misinformation’ Like The Lab-Leak Theory

Senator Blasts Biden For Compiling 'Naughty List' Of 'Misinformation' Peddlers

Coronavirus

Joni Ernst

Misinformation

Social Media Censorship

U.S.

The World Health Organization (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization">WHO</a>) has told people not to attack monkeys as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">monkeypox</a> spreads around the world. 
WHO’s statement comes after reports from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/brazil">Brazil</a> revealed that seven monkeys had been killed there in recent days, possibly linked to reactions to the spread of monkeypox, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-warns-do-not-attack-monkeys-monkeypox-rcna42433">according</a> to NBC News. A Brazilian outlet reported that 10 monkeys appeared to be poisoned or otherwise harmed. 
“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,&#8221; said WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris. 
Dener Giovanini, the coordinator of a group that combats the trafficking of animals, said the name for the disease had led some in Brazil to believe that monkeys were causing the outbreak. 
&#8220;The name chosen for this new disease is very unfortunate. Many people in Brazil believe that monkeys carry the disease and are persecuting these animals,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are very concerned because this represents a huge threat to wild animals in Brazil, which are already very endangered.&#8221;
Brazil’s Environmental Military Police also suspect that the killings were motivated by the fear that monkeys spread the disease. 
While monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, studies have<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/monkeypox-driven-overwhelmingly-sex-men-major-study-finds-rcna39564"> shown</a> that the disease has primarily been transmitted by men who have sex with men. Some health experts <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/monkeypox-outbreak-likely-spread-by-sex-at-2-raves-in-europe-says-who-expert">believe</a> the first outbreaks were among gay and bisexual men who attended raves in Europe. 
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), monkeypox can spread through skin-to-skin contact that often happens through hugging, kissing, extended face-to-face contact, and sexual intercourse.
The WHO said people should not be concerned about monkeys spreading the disease but instead look to crack down on the spread among humans. 
&#8220;The concern should be about where it&#8217;s transmitting in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it,&#8221; Harris said. &#8220;They should certainly not be attacking any animals.&#8221;
Last month, WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/monkeypox-declared-global-health-emergency-by-world-health-organization">directed</a> the organization to declare monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” despite a lack of consensus from the body on the declaration. 
The disease joined COVID and polio as the other diseases designated as international emergencies by the global health organization. 
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria,” Tedros <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/health/monkeypox-pandemic-who.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">told</a> the press at the time.

A mother Hooded Capuchin Monkey carries her baby on it’s back in the Pantanal, Brazil.

World Health Organization Tells People Not To Attack Monkeys Amid Monkeypox Spread

Brazil

Monkeypox

With anxiety, frustration, and “<a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/335820/WHO-EURO-2020-1160-40906-55390-eng.pdf">pandemic fatigue</a>” remaining at high levels after two and a half years of watching COVID disrupt everything &#8211; from businesses to education to travel and much more &#8211; it is understandable that many people are worried that we are in the early stages of the next pandemic with the current monkeypox epidemic. Especially considering the regular <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/07/1122982">headlines</a>, the unusual name, and the recent World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-the-press-conference-following-IHR-emergency-committee-regarding-the-multi--country-outbreak-of-monkeypox--23-july-2022">designation</a> of monkeypox as a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).
It doesn’t help that former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who presided over the nation’s initial response to the COVID pandemic, recently induced some panic when he <a href="https://twitter.com/jeromeadamsmd/status/1547766121599684608?s=21&amp;t=81k9ONqhZjXo_JyUOM3sDw">tweeted</a>, “I hate to tell you all this, but <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/covid19?src=hashtag_click">#covid19</a> is still a pandemic, and now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/monkeypox?src=hashtag_click">#monkeypox</a> is too. And both are gonna get a LOT worse before they get better… just wait till schools &#8211; including colleges &#8211; reopen in a few weeks…” before <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/medical/dr-jerome-adams-discusses-latest-development-on-monkeypox/">later admitting</a> that this is not actually the case.
Given how new and unexpected the monkeypox outbreak is, we all have many questions: Is there any justification to panic over the monkeypox outbreak? Is monkeypox the next COVID? Will it lead to thousands or millions of deaths? Will there be any need to impose mandates or restrictions on most of society to control the epidemic? Who is at risk? How do we control it?
To understand the answers to these questions, it is necessary to understand what monkeypox is as well as what it is not. Monkeypox is a member of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891552019300170?via%3Dihub">the pox family of viruses</a>, which includes the now-eradicated smallpox as well as the vaccinia or cowpox virus, which would confer immunity to smallpox to those it infected. Since it was first <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">discovered in humans in 1970</a>, over 50 years ago, monkeypox has been largely confined to West Africa, where humans interact closely with non-human animal reservoirs of the virus (which, incidentally, tend to be rodents, not monkeys). The monkeypox virus is known to spread from one human to another via prolonged skin-to-skin or other intimate contact. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, it is not a respiratory pathogen, which means monkeypox is not thought to spread via inhalation of the same air or respiratory droplets that are released during a sneeze or cough.
After a five to 21-day incubation period, an illness typically lasting between <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">two and five weeks</a> may begin. Initially, monkeypox-infected individuals develop flu-like <a href="https://clark.wa.gov/public-health/public-health-investigating-first-confirmed-case-monkeypox-virus-infection#:~:text=Monkeypox%20illness%20often%20begins%20with,%2C%20arms%2C%20legs%20and%20hands.">symptoms</a>, including: muscle aches, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue. These early symptoms are then shortly followed by a rash resembling chickenpox, which typically originates in the face and eventually spreads outward to the hands and feet. While mortality has historically been low with monkeypox, at around <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">three to six percent of cases</a> (and with young adults and immunocompromised individuals at higher risk of severe disease), common complications can include respiratory distress and even blindness.
In 2003, a monkeypox <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5227a5.htm">outbreak occurred</a> in the United States, originating from infected prairie dogs that were housed near animals imported from Ghana, that infected 47 people. During this outbreak, all cases were attributable to animal-to-human transmission from close handling, bites, scratches, and cleaning the cages of sick animals. The outbreak was contained by quickly identifying the source and administering smallpox vaccines (which have cross-reactivity with monkeypox) to at-risk individuals. No deaths occurred in that outbreak.
The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/index.html">2022</a> monkeypox outbreak, however, has now arguably evolved into a global epidemic. At the time of this writing, there are over 25,000 global <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html">confirmed cases</a>, and the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html">United States</a> has over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html">6,000 confirmed</a> cases in 49 jurisdictions, with the highest case counts being in New York state and California. Thus far, among these cases, there have been no reported monkeypox-associated deaths in the United States. <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/08/non-endemic-countries-record-first-monkeypox-deaths">Brazil and India</a> have each reported one death, with the Brazil patient being immunocompromised and having lymphoma. Spain has also reported two deaths. With a reported death rate in the current monkeypox epidemic far below the three to six percent previously reported, there is low concern for mortality, but there remains a risk for other complications of the infection.
We have also amassed a great deal of information regarding who is at risk. As of August 2, <a href="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox.aspx">California’s Department of Public Health</a> has reported that among its approximately 1,135 statewide cases of monkeypox, 14 have been hospitalized for the infection, with the vast majority of patients being aged between 25 and 44 years. From among the monkeypox cases with available data, 98.8% have been reported in male or transgender male individuals, with 97.2% of infected individuals identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Given this information, California’s public health website states: “While it’s good to stay alert about emerging public health outbreaks, the current risk of getting monkeypox in the general public is very low.”
The WHO and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have taken a different approach to the monkeypox outbreak than they did with COVID, electing to adopt recommendations directed at the individuals and communities at greatest risk, rather than issuing broad restrictions that impact the entire public. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/monkeypox-who-recommends-gay-bisexual-men-limit-sexual-partners-to-reduce-spread.html">WHO</a>, in addition to declaring monkeypox a PHEIC, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/monkeypox-who-recommends-gay-bisexual-men-limit-sexual-partners-to-reduce-spread.html">recommended</a> that men who have sex with men limit their number of sexual partners, while the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/pdf/MonkeyPox-SaferSex-InfoSheet-508.pdf">CDC</a> has chosen to issue “safer sex” recommendations that deliberately avoid singling out any groups to avoid stigmatization.
At this point in the monkeypox epidemic, when case numbers are relatively few and infections are concentrated among well-defined communities, we have a unique and narrow window of opportunity to adopt lessons we have learned from the COVID pandemic and <a href="https://gbdeclaration.org/focused-protection/">enact focused protection</a> of those who are at risk to both protect those individuals and halt the broader spread of the virus. Focused vaccination programs, educational campaigns regarding safe practices, and temporary limitations on specific events that are likely to lead to further spread of the monkeypox virus should all be considered. We learned from our initial response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s that we can do so while being respectful to impacted communities by focusing our language on medical risk reduction, rather than shaming individuals for their identities or personal practices. Any efforts to avoid focused protection of at-risk communities out of fear of stigmatization will cause public health agencies to squander this opportunity to contain the spread of monkeypox, effectively worsening its impact and potentially making it far more difficult to control in the future.
Given how skeptical the public has become after watching public health and political leaders make one harmful mistake after another in their attempt to manage the COVID pandemic, leaders must now set aside politics and political correctness and very transparently employ the clinical evidence about monkeypox to address this epidemic swiftly, before it spreads beyond its existing pockets. Time is running out.
Houman David Hemmati, M.D., Ph.D. is a board-certified ophthalmologist and biomedical research scientist in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Hemmati earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, an MD from UCLA School of Medicine, and a PhD from Caltech, and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Stanford Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a postdoctoral research fellowship in chemical engineering at MIT, and a clinical fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He has co-founded and helps run two pharmaceutical companies developing treatments for eye diseases like macular degeneration, and has published extensively in the areas of stem cell research and blinding eye diseases. You can follow him on Twitter: @houmanhemmati
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Monkeypox Outbreak

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