Page:Interim Staff Report on Investigation into Risky MPXV Experiment at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.pdf/25

 : Analysis of the accuracy of Dr. Moss’s response: This statement is materially misleading.''As written, the statement is clearly intended to give the impression that Dr. Moss’s team did not consider transfers in the direction from clade I to clade IIa. It is also misleading because it suggests that the research approach was only linear and conditional (transfers from clade IIa to clade I, then the opposite direction) when, in fact, the Moss team presented an experimental proposal to the IBC that called for concurrent, bidirectional gene transfers.''

 September 21, 2023, Meeting with Dr. Moss and other NIH/NIAID Officials 

The request for a transcribed interview was refused by HHS and the NIH, but led to a September 21, 2023, bipartisan Committee staff meeting with Dr. Moss and other HHS/NIH staff. Dr. Moss and other HHS/NIH staff gave lengthy, prepared opening remarks. Committee majority and minority staff were limited to about 22 minutes of questioning each. During the meeting, there were several problematic statements made.

In his written statement for the September 21, 2023, meeting, Dr. Moss wrote:


 * “Depending on the results of those experiments, I will consider additional gene exchanges that might include transfers in the opposite direction or involve clade IIb.”Analysis of the accuracy of the statement by Dr. Moss: This statement is materially misleading.As with his June 30, 2023, letter, this statement implies that Dr. Moss’s team did not consider transfers in the direction from clade I to clade IIa. In fact, such transfers were included in the 2015 submission to the IBC. It is also misleading because it suggests that the research approach was only linear and conditional (transfers from clade IIa to clade I first, then in a later potential experiment transfers would be made in the opposite direction, from clade I to clade IIa) when in fact the Moss team presented an experimental proposal to the IBC that called for concurrent, bidirectional gene transfers.