事情发生的经过: 美国地质调查局(USGS)局长 prevented scientists from conducting research investigating the impacts of the novel coronavirus on an endangered ferret species, 黑脚雪貂.
为什么重要: By halting a scientific study that was already approved based on its scientific merit, 机构官员将政治置于617888九五至尊娱乐之上. Federal science-based agencies like USGS have a duty to conduct critically important scientific research, research which can be utilized to enhance and protect public health 还有环境 nationwide.
美国地质调查局(USGS)局长, 詹姆斯·赖利, interfered with scientists’ ability to conduct critical analysis on the impacts of the novel coronavirus in a ferret species, 黑脚雪貂. Scientists were prevented from examining the effects of a life-threatening virus on an endangered species. 美国地质勘探局忽略了该机构的一个 承诺 in its 任务 statement to provide rigorous and unbiased information on threatened and endangered species.
的 国家野生动物健康中心 (NWHC) is the only federal lab in the nation dedicated to work on high-risk, 野生动物种群中的传染病. 2020年9月, NWHC scientists learned that Reilly had shut down 黑脚雪貂 study, a study that had already undergone a review by agency scientists to ensure that the research was adhering to scientific protocols. 美国地质调查局的617888九五至尊娱乐家说，赖利 所述 he had concerns that the research could accidentally result in unsafe outcomes, such as causing possible mutations in the novel coronavirus or disease trans任务 outside the laboratory. A senior USGS employee 所述, “What Reilly’s saying is absolutely untrue.“NWHC的地位 生物安全三级实验室 would make such a scenario highly unlikely because labs with this designation follow strict safety procedures and microbiological lab practices.
2020年7月中旬, the NWHC Director approved a Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposal to investigate whether vaccines could protect this ferret species. In addition to 黑脚雪貂 being listed as one of the country’s 最濒危哺乳动物, this species is also highly susceptible to respiratory infections. 研究 雪貂可以感染COVID-19, making them an important species to study in the development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. However, in early September 2020, Reilly carried out the unusual step of stopping the project.
By burying a study examining the impacts of COVID-19 on 黑脚雪貂, 美国地质勘探局将自己的517888九五至尊娱乐搁置一边 617888九五至尊娱乐完整性指南. 该机构也削弱了自己的实力 任务 of serving the nation by providing reliable scientific information for the benefit of animals, 人类, 还有环境. Despite a stringent agency review process designed to ensure that scientific research is conducted safely and ethically, federal scientists were restricted from conducting critical scientific research in a highly unusual and nonstandard process. With the evidence suggesting that political considerations were prioritized over science, USGS NWHC scientists were prevented from conducting research that could have provided important information on the novel coronavirus and its effect on an endangered species.