Ban Gain-of-Function Research in Colorado

Colorado State University is constructing a facility to conduct dangerous research on bat-borne diseases. The Colorado General Assembly must enact legislation preventing this and other gain-of-function research in the state.

In 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded $6.7 million to Colorado State University to build a research facility in Fort Collins to study bat-borne and bat-associated diseases.

As explained by CBRMC, the diseases researched would include “SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Nipah virus and Hendra virus.”

CBRMC further explained:

The grant was given to the Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The formal name assigned to CSU’s bat lab is Chiropteran Research Facility to be built at 3105 Rampart Road in Fort Collins.

CSU gave citizens short notice on November 30, 2022 about a public meeting to be held on the inconvenient date of December 21, 2022 — snuck into holiday break.

At the December 21 meeting, Larimer County Planning Board unanimously approved CSU’s proposal to build the 14,000 sq. ft. bat lab.

Gain-of-function research is extremely risky and dangerous, and it likely created Covid-19 to begin with. It is now well-known that the National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. The lab in Wuhan conducted dangerous experimentation on viruses just before the outbreak, and Covid is now widely accepted — despite attempts to cover it up — to have leaked from the lab.

Legislators in other states are taking action to ban gain-of-function. For example, legislators in Wisconsin have introduced SB 401 to ban gain-of-function by institutions of higher education. This legislation was motivated by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s use of gain-of-function research where it did not properly report dangerous incidents or otherwise violated regulations regarding such research.

It is imperative that the Colorado General Assembly take action to stop dangerous bat-pathogen research or other gain-of-function research — and, more broadly, to protect and restore the medical freedom of Coloradans. Contact your state representative and senator, and urge them to support strong legislation to ban gain-of-function.