Trump’s New Executive Order Does Not Outright Ban Gain-Of-Function
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A new rule issued last year by the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) takes effect today that allows the Secretary of “any federal department” to indefinitely waive oversight requirements for high-risk experiments involving the most deadly pathogens known to man.
That means no safety checks and no independent review for government-led gain-of-function (GOF) experiments, despite the risky practice causing the COVID-19 pandemic that killed millions of Americans.
I sounded the alarm over the new waiver rule in October 2024, again the following month, and in various subsequent articles.
The document for the OSTP’s new rule avoids using “gain-of-function” terminology despite describing activities that match the practice, likely due to the controversy linking GOF research to the origins of the COVID pandemic.
The government wants to continue engineering dangerous pathogens to be even more lethal, but without anyone knowing.
The document, titled “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential,” was quietly issued without congressional approval on May 6, 2024.
It takes effect today, exactly one year after the issuance.
The policy “addresses oversight of research on biological agents and toxins that, when enhanced, have the potential to pose risks to public health, agriculture, food security, economic security, or national security,” the document reads.
This encompasses biological research proposed for federal funding that may be “reasonably anticipated to involve the creation, transfer, or use of pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential (PEPPs).”
It also includes “the creation of new pathogens with pandemic potential (PPP) from non-PPPs as well as the enhancement of existing PPPs.”
The document defines a pathogen with pandemic potential (PPP) as one that is “likely capable of wide and uncontrollable spread in a human population and would likely cause moderate to severe disease and/or mortality in humans.”
A pathogen with enhanced pandemic potential (PEPP) is defined as a type PPP that come from “experiments that enhance a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence, or disrupt the effectiveness of pre-existing immunity, regardless of its progenitor agent, such that it may pose a significant threat to public health, the capacity of health systems to function, or national security.”
Such experiments meet the definition of gain-of-function.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) explicitly defines PEPP research as “a type of so called ‘gain-of-function’ (GOF) research.”
Resurrecting Extinct Viruses: Smallpox & Spanish Flu
While the waiver can apply to any pathogen, the new policy explicitly includes research involving the reconstitution of eradicated or extinct pathogens, such as smallpox (Variola major) and the 1918 influenza virus (Spanish flu).
This means that under a waiver, labs could perform GOF on these historically dangerous pathogens, even if it involves resurrecting viruses that have been extinct for decades.
Any Federal Agency Can Waive Oversight Forever?
Significantly, the policy states that “any” federal department can bypass safety checks if the agency’s Secretary wishes.
The document reads:
“The Secretary of any federal department that funds research covered under Category 1 or Category 2 may issue a waiver temporarily exempting all research proposals on a designated biological agent or toxin from the oversight process… if the Secretary determines that… such research is urgently required… to facilitate an effective response to such an emergency; and, (3) the benefits of such a waiver exceed the potential risks.”
The document specifies that, for federal funding agencies that are “not under a department,” the agency head may still issue a waiver, extending this power across various federal departments and independent funding agencies.
The waiver applies for up to 180 days, with the option for renewals that allow the deadly research to bypass standard safety checks indefinitely.
What About Trump’s New Executive Order?
OSTP is an office within the Executive Office of the President (EOP), meaning President Donald Trump has direct authority to immediately suspend or revise the dangerous waiver clause embedded in the current policy—but has not yet done so.
On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) that many are incorrectly claiming bans all gain-of-function in the U.S.
The EO does not ban all GOF research in the U.S.; it only suspends federal funding for some GOF research—and even then, it explicitly allows for exceptions if approved by the OSTP Director, Michael Kratsios.
“Heads of agencies shall report any exception to a suspension to the Director of OSTP for review in consultation with the APNSA and the heads of relevant agencies,” the EO reads.
Routine or so-called lower-risk GOF studies are also unaffected, and non-federally funded dangerous research is not banned, meaning bird flu experiments that are currently being funded by Bill Gates can continue.
The order also does not end all foreign collaborations, only those involving research in certain high-risk countries.
While it is true that Trump’s new EO does direct the OSTP to “revise or replace” the waiver-allowing DURC/PEPP policy within 120 days, it does not suspend the policy’s most dangerous clause: Section 5.5, which gives any agency head unilateral power to waive oversight of dual-use or gain-of-function research.
That waiver authority apparently remains fully intact as of today and for at least the next few months, meaning dangerous experiments can still proceed without independent review.
Unless the OSTP immediately freezes this loophole or the President issues a direct suspension, the core threat is untouched.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for a bird flu pandemic—fast-tracking Gates-backed vaccines, mobilizing nationwide outbreak response infrastructure, and quietly coordinating with the WHO—while refusing to ban all GOF.
With the waiver now active and no immediate action taken to stop it, the U.S. government has effectively legalized secret bioweapons research on American soil—under the false flag of pandemic preparedness.
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