Research on highly pathogenic strains of bird flu conducted by the Department of Agriculture in affiliation with Chinese Communist Party scientific researchers is drawing renewed scrutiny from representatives in Congress following the growing outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows this month.

A bipartisan group of representatives in the House began probing the USDA this month regarding two collaborative research projects with the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducting potentially dangerous research on several strains of avian influenza that are genetically similar to the H5N1 strain currently circulating in the United States.