Ralph Baric's Lab Scores A Win.
Ralph Baric's Lab Scores A Win.
... At the expense of taxpayers, citizens, and government transparency.
On 19 October 2024, North Carolina Judge Alyson Grine ruled to hide the vast majority of University of North Carolina documents tied to Ralph Baric’s lab and his involvement in SARS-CoV-2 Gain of Function (GoF) research. His lab at UNC Chapel Hill conducted GoF in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The FOIA lawsuit was brought by the non-profit US Right to Know and could potentially shine a light on how exactly SARS-CoV-2 was engineered at WIV.
Let’s quickly refresh our memory on how GoF research became a topic of current conversation…
In the early 2000s Vice President Dick Cheney realigned US biodefense research and programs under Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci provided funding and support for various GoF research projects, but Baric’s lab was on the forefront of research. In 2013 these programs were faced with closure following President Obama’s ban on risky GoF research.
Not to be deterred, Fauci, Baric, and other researchers off-shored their research with funding from USAID’s PREDICT program through EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak to third country locations, like Wuhan, China. The ban on GoF research was little more than a speed bump, and even if they had not moved the risky program to China, it would have been easily overcome. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and National Institute of Health (NIH) had the authority to make exemptions on the basis of national security and public health.
The offshore model was still the best way to avoid Congressional oversight and scrutiny. It also sustained a significant financial windfall for virologists who had come to rely on funding grants from NIAID and NIH. Knowledge of the risks, and the massive amount of investment that went into creating SARS-CoV-2 only came to light after it had escaped from a lab in Wuhan.
NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, his deputy David Morens, and the public health establishment tried to hide their actions by censoring information and applying pressure on various arms of the government. They colluded with EcoHealth alliance to market their endeavor as preemptive science, all while continuing to fund virologists who had become reliant on a steady stream of subsidies… regardless of the value of their work.
That is the short story, but we should also take a quick look at the amount of money that has been supplied to the happy recipients of this government subsidy program dedicated to virologists desperate to justify their existence.
Do you know how much Baric has received in government funding?
$284,861,283.
That is a lot of money that could be put to other, more pressing public health concerns. Given the quantity of cash spent on just one individual’s research, I find it difficult to believe the description of Ralph Baric as a “reluctant spokesperson” for GoF in MIT Digest. His actions seem more akin to an ardent activist. Given his association with Wellcome Trust and other shady personalities involved in hiding the nature of NIAID’s GoF research, every American should demand access to any and all correspondence related to his government funded research.
Baruch Fischhoff moderates a panel of academic, government and industry representatives discuss the potential benefits of GoF research. The panel includes Philip Dormitzer, Ralph Baric, Jerry Weir, and Mark Denison.
It is abundantly clear that NIAID officials, Fauci, EcoHealth Alliance and members of the scientific establishment were engaged in a cover-up of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 since the very beginning of the pandemic. This included Baric, although in comparison to Fauci and Morens, he has remained out of the spotlight.
Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance drafted a statement of solidarity meant to reinforce the narrative that SARS-CoV-2 was of zoonotic origin. The letter was published in The Lancet on 19 February 2020 and had subsequently been signed by members of the scientific community. Many of them included individuals with close ties to GoF research generally, as well as specific ties to Ecohealth Alliance and the research being carried our at WIV.
Previous successful FOIAs from US Right to Know revealed that Daszak wrote the letter and had corresponded with Ralph Baric in advance. They had decided that it was better that Baric not sign the document. They agreed that there would be scrutiny on the letter and they should "…put [it] out in a way that doesn’t link it back to our collaboration so we maximize an independent voice." It demonstrated deliberate intent to hide nepotism; five of the signatories were directly affiliated with EcoHealth Alliance and two were partners of EcoHealth.
Baric wasn’t just commiserating with Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance.
Fauci met with virologist Ralph Baric to discuss the degree to which his work with WIV had been properly regulated (it wasn’t), as well as opportunities to speed the regulatory process (P3CO). Once again, FOIAs from US Right to Know provided this valuable insight.
I am only scratching the surface when it comes to Baric, and he is a pivotal player in the origin of SARS-CoV-2. That story is being slowed by bureaucratic intransigence and the glacial pace of FOIA litigation.
Judge Alyson Grine presided over the culmination of months of litigation and third party review to determine if the exemption being claimed by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was valid. US Right to Know challenged UNC over their interpretation of a specific FOIA exception that protected documents from release. The exemption applies to material that could be described as “research data, records, and information of a proprietary nature.”
In November 2023, US Right to Know won the right to have 3rd party review of the records that were subject to the exemption. The report found that UNC had withheld approximately 251 of the documents improperly, but Judge Grine was unwilling to release over 2700 other documents with the same exemption.
This was a disappointing ruling and highlights the difficulty any organization will encounter when litigating FOIAs. Baric’s role in the pandemic and the creation of SARS-CoV-2 deserves scrutiny, transparency, and accountability. Bureaucrats shouldn’t be able to extend the FOIA process over a period of two years, nor should recipients of tax payer funding be permitted to claim the product of their research is proprietary. Americans deserve to know the truth and US Right to Know and their attorneys are considering appeal.
Expect Feds for Freedom to be talking about Ralph Baric in future articles. His role in this mess has not been fully revealed.