Ever since we began our series of #BeagleGate investigations, the media has been working overtime to shield Dr. Fauci from criticism. The Washington Post tried to smear us for criticizing his wasteful and cruel puppy experiments; other sites, like Snopes, have tried to obfuscate our findings. Nevertheless, even the most pro-Fauci fact-checkers have confirmed WCW’s allegations: wasteful and cruel experiments on puppies and dogs are indeed being funded by Fauci’s division at the NIH, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

We always show our receipts, and we stand by our work.

One issue, however, has remained a sticking point for several in the media: whether NIAID funded this specific dog experiment in Tunisia:

As FactCheck.org points out, a scientific paper in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, was the first to contain this photo. The paper cited NIAID as the funding source for the experiment.

Months after WCW first exposed the experiment and troubling photo, it went viral…and then, suddenly, NIAID claimed that it did not fund this particular experiment. It did, however, confirm that it did fund experiments on dogs in Tunisia…by the same group of experimenters.

Hmmm.

How the Corporate Media Launched a Disinformation Campaign to Protect Faucihttps://t.co/CWdOQlRgvZ

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 1, 2021

We are very skeptical of NIAID’s sudden and suspiciously convenient disavowal of the photographed experiment — especially given NIAID’s other misleading statements about animal testing. We have also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to shed more light on the issue; when we get a response, we will surely let you know.

Now, new details, first published by journalist Leighton Woodhouse, make NIAID’s highly-convenient “error” seem even more dubious — and reveal a disquieting conflict-of-interest.

WaPo’s Dana Milbank, Media Matters and the “fact checkers” jumped on the chance to cast doubt on the Fauci beagle story. They got the flimsy evidence they needed from a scientific journal. Turns out that journal is edited by an employee of Anthony Fauci. https://t.co/YIq2LzrFda

— Leighton Woodhouse (@lwoodhouse) November 19, 2021

Guess where Shaden Kamhawi, one of the editors-in-chief of Neglected Tropical Diseases, works?

NIAID.

She’s literally an employee of Dr. Fauci.

Hmmm.

But wait, there’s more!

Dr. Kamhawi is also an expert in Leishmania infantum — the same disease that the photographed Tunisian dog experiment purported to study. Even worse, Kamhawi is an animal experimenter herself, with a focus on sand flies. As Woodhouse observes, “In a paper published just last month, she and her colleagues wrote, ‘we allowed sand flies to feed on a group of vertically infected dogs at varying stages of VL disease severity and measured sand fly parasite uptake.’”

Finally, the Tunisian experiment’s principal scientist, Dr. Abhay Satoskar, is Kamhawi’s colleague — last year, they published a paper together.

Woodhouse puts the pieces together well:

“To summarize, one of the editors-in-chief of the journal in which the controversial Tunisian beagle experiment’s results were published — a journal that, by issuing its “correction” played a critical role in “debunking” a story that embarrassed Anthony Fauci — is:

• an employee of Anthony Fauci
• an academic collaborator of the researcher who conducted the experiment that’s at the heart of the Fauci controversy
• has had her own work exposed by the group that uncovered the controversial experiment in question
• does experimentation that’s virtually identical to the controversial experiment

Wow. That’s a heck of a lot of coincidences, isn’t it?

Leighton Woodhouse discussed NIAID’s conflict of interest on Newsmax. Watch it here:

Means, motive, opportunity…NIAID’s sudden about-face is certainly convenient for them.

We’re going to continue pressing for answers, regardless of how much it makes NIAID squirm. We’re going to continue fighting for taxpayers, who shouldn’t have to pay $20+ billion per year for cruel and wasteful animal experiments. We’re going to keep fighting for the beagles, who deserve better than a short life of suffering and pain. We’re going to keep fighting until taxpayer-funded animal experiments are swept into the dustbin of history, where they belong.