As of April, the federal health agency has reached out to 90 institutions that receive government grants about 200 researchers. It has also excluded 100 from the “NIH ecosystem” through withdrawal, dismissals, premature retirements, or internal departments, according to Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research at the NIH.
Lauer said that the most important challenge is only “the workload of dealing with a very large number of cases.”
WATCH: UCLA PROTESTORS LOST THEIR MIND CALLING THE UNIVERSITY A VIOLENT INSTITUTION
“Each of these requires a tremendous amount of work to figure out what exactly has been happening and to work carefully with the institution to figure out what’s been going on,” he said at an April 22 Senate committee hearing that focused on keeping out Chinese attempts to utilize U.S. biomedical research developments.
WATCH: TRUMP'S ATTORNEY FACING INDICTMENT IN ARIZONA
One situation that Lauer stressed is when scientists have a laboratory set up in China to do the same work for the Chinese government that the U.S. taxpayers are funding.
In others, the researchers may have a business in China leveraging findings from the NIH-sponsored research—which is “a clear conflict of interest.” A third, according to Lauer, is where scientists claim to be dedicating 100 percent of their time “when in fact they are spending 50 to 60 percent of their time in China.”
IS MCDONALD'S BECOMING THE NEW CHAMPION OF AFFORDABILITY?
“So they are lying about how they’re spending their time, and that kind of a blatant lie affects the credibility and the integrity of the entire enterprise,” Lauer said.
MEET VICTORIA SHI: THE AI-BOT SPOKESWOMAN TAKING UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY BY STORM
The Justice Department has opened cases against dozens of researchers in a request to cut down the inrush of concerted Chinese piracy of U.S. intellectual property.
The same day of the hearing, a math professor at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale was charged with covering Chinese government aid and working for a Chinese state university, deceiving the National Science Foundation of $151,099 in grants.
MOUNTING PRESSURE: OVER 300 ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS DEMAND REGULATIONS FOR ISRAEL IN UPCOMING OLYMPICS
A few days earlier, a hospital researcher from an Ohio children’s hospital was condemned to 33 months in prison for selling trade secrets to China. The man, Zhou Yu, admitted last December to stealing at least five trade secrets related to exosomes, small sacs of fluid from cells that have seen increasing use in drugs and cancer treatment.
SPOILER ALERT: MSNBC HOSTS WARN THAT CAMPUS PROTESTS MIGHT PAVE THE WAY FOR TRUMP'S COMEBACK
The couple received funding from Chinese authorities and had a company in China to sell exosome “isolation kits” developed from research data they took.
“Our enemies can capitalize on the billions of dollars that American taxpayers invest every year to beat us to the punch on the next game-changing technology to save lives or cause unimaginable harm. Because they know it’s easier to get to home base when you steal your way to third,” said Sen. Richard Burr (R-S.C.) at the Thursday hearing.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
