Rand Paul's claim about 'super virus' research in China Are the National Institutes of Health funding research on how to create "super viruses" at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China? Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) made this provocative claim at a Senate hearing last week. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Paul was "entirely and completely incorrect." "For years, Dr. Ralph Baric, a virologist in the U.S., has been collaborating with Dr. Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Virology Institute, sharing his discoveries about how to create super viruses," Paul said. "This gain-of-function research has been funded by the NIH." "Gain of function" is scientific jargon subject to different definitions. The debate over such experiments predated the pandemic, but it has gained new urgency as scientists investigate the origin of the virus that has killed more than 3 million people around the world. The core of the dispute is this: Did the novel coronavirus emerge from nature, or was it the result of a lab experiment gone awry? In 2017, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) published a study that said researchers had found a coronavirus from a bat that could be transmitted directly to humans. The article, under its list of funders, included the National Institutes of Health. To some experts, that certainly sounds like gain-of-function research, though we should note that, based on what has been disclosed publicly by WIV, none of the virus samples used to conduct these experiments was or could have been transformed into the new coronavirus that causes the disease covid-19. The organization that actually received funding from the NIH grant at issue, EcoHealth Alliance, said that it was not gain-of-function research and that much of the work contemplated in the grant was not completed because the Trump administration pulled the funding. "NIH has never approved any grant to support 'gain-of-function' research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans," the NIH said after our fact-check was published. "The research proposed in the EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. grant application sought to understand how bat coronaviruses evolve naturally in the environment to become transmissible to the human population." Paul earned Two Pinocchios. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Staffing the Jan. 6 commission The House passed a bill to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, similar to the 9/11 Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Mike Rounds (S.D.), oppose the legislation because, among other reasons, they say it allows Democrats unilateral power to hire all the commission staff. All three obfuscated to varying degrees. The Jan. 6 commission bill is bipartisan, sponsored by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and co-sponsored by Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), the ranking Republican on the panel. All Democrats and 35 Republicans supported it in the House. The bill text says "the Chairperson, in consultation with the Vice-Chairperson, in accordance with rules agreed upon by the Commission, may appoint and fix the compensation of a Staff Director and such other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its purposes and functions." That language is identical to the law setting up the 9/11 Commission. The chairman and executive director of that panel told The Fact Checker that the staff hiring process was fully bipartisan and cooperative. We gave Four Pinocchios to Rounds, Three Pinocchios to McCarthy and Two Pinocchios to McConnell. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @AdriUsero) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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