Just over five years after the country locked down because of COVID, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that significantly restricts and, in many cases, ends federal funding for “gain-of-function” research experiments that alter pathogens to make them more transmissible or dangerous.

The order targets domestic and foreign research, focusing on countries of concern such as China and Iran, where U.S. officials believe oversight is insufficient (like…China).

For over a decade, scientists have debated the risks and benefits of so-called “gain of function” research. They’ve long tinkered with viruses and bacteria to endow them with new functions like producing insulin for people with diabetes. Some researchers have modified bird flu viruses in order to figure out which mutations might be crucial for producing pandemic strains that could spread among people.

Although such experiments may have benefits, critics have maintained that the risk of an accidentally created pandemic was not worth taking. In 2014, all federal funding was halted on experiments that could make certain viruses more dangerous. The first Trump administration lifted that ban in 2017 and instituted a new procedure to review possibly dangerous research...