[Old School Hound]

More misinformation from conservatives. It's what they do best---misinform ! 


It is false to state that Dr. Fauci was conducting experiments with aborted fetuses and rats, or that the studies in question were secret. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology used small amounts of fetal tissue in a study about how human skin can protect from pathogen transmission. This may have been the origin of the false claims.

A source that the conspiracy theory articles use is a September, 2020 issue of the scientific journal, Nature. It describes a range of studies about human skin which were conducted by the University of Pittsburgh. The report also states that it used fetal tissue which was grafted onto mice and rats. It was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, but the report does not mention Dr. Fauci. It is also unlikely that Dr. Fauci was personally involved with this study, as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has six divisions, and the Office of the Director alone has a range of sub-offices. Lastly, the source states that the fetal tissues were obtained from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and that the study had obtained written consent from the maternal donors.

Funding data from the National Institutes of Health does indicate that the funding for these experiments totaled a little over $400,000. A spokesperson for University of Pittsburgh told Told The Federalist that the studies were not sourced from taxpayer money. 



https://misbar.com/en/factcheck/2021/05/...etuses-and

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Politifact weighs in on the misinformation and lies:



Social media posts have accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of purchasing "severed heads of aborted babies" and grafting "their scalps onto lab rats."
The headline of an article on the conservative website Gateway Pundit reads, "Dr. Fauci is Funding Gruesome University of Pittsburgh Study Skinning Scalps off of Aborted Babies and Growing them on Lab Rats." The website published a video that says the university appears to have an agreement with Planned Parenthood to obtain fetal tissues. 
An article from the Center for Medical Progress — an organization that has posed as researchers to secretly record encounters with Planned Parenthood in the past — claimed that "Local Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania abortion providers" supplied the fetal tissue. 


While the claims reference a real study, they misleadingly characterizes Fauci’s relationship to the research, incorrectly links the study to Planned Parenthood and falsely claims fetal tissues were purchased. 

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The research aimed to create mouse and rat models "with human skin, along with autologous lymphoid tissue(s) and autologous immune cells" for the purpose of potentially providing "a means of studying the human immune response to infection in the human skin."
The use of the term "humanized mice" in medical research isn’t uncommon. It refers to "immunodeficient mice engrafted with functional human cells and tissues," according to other research on the topic.
Studies describe the process as "increasingly important" for studies of infectious diseases and cancer — an "alternative to in vitro studies with human tissues and nonhuman primates for the study of human immunobiology."


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Claims that Planned Parenthood supplied the fetal tissues used in the experiments are false, according to the study. 
Researchers indicated that the fetal tissues were donated, obtained through pregnancies terminated at the Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, working with the university’s Health Sciences Tissue Bank.

Kevin Zwick, a spokesperson for the University of Pittsburgh, said the university "does not obtain tissues from Planned Parenthood."

There is also no evidence that Fauci was directly involved in this research at all — beyond generally running the NIAID.

Finally, there is no indication that the fetal tissues used in the experiments were "purchased," as the posts claim. Zwick confirmed that the tissues used in the study were donated.

"The NIH and PA Abortion Control Act expressly forbid entities from profiting off of the collection and transfer of fetal cell and tissue donations," Zwick said. 

He said the university follows all federal regulations regarding research using fetal tissues and also follows Pennsylvania’s regulations, which Zwick described as "among the most restrictive in the country."

Zwick also pointed to a university policy that mandates "No remuneration, compensation or other consideration of any kind may be offered to a woman to consent to the use of fetal tissues for research."







https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/...d-fetal-t/