Trump Halts US Funding for Virus Research, Cites Lab Leak Claims

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to halt federal funding for gain-of-function research—studies that enhance the properties of pathogens—in certain countries, specifically targeting China and Iran. This action is aimed at preventing the development of potential pandemics like COVID-19, which Trump and several US agencies now attribute to a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology rather than natural animal-to-human transmission. Trump and his administration argue that no laboratory is immune from leaks, and that such research, if mishandled, could endanger global public health. Supporters of the order, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, assert that nations conducting this research pose risks to both their populations and the world. The US government has also shifted its public messaging, with official resources now emphasizing arguments in favor of the lab leak theory. However, some officials, such as former infectious disease chief Anthony Fauci, dispute whether the Wuhan work met the definition of gain-of-function research, and not all intelligence agencies agree on the lab origin theory.