US documents highlight concerns in Wuhan lab in post-COVID scrutiny
Recently disclosed documents have raised concerns over safety and transparency in viral research at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The documents, obtained under the United States Freedom of Information Act, include some 2,800 pages of communication between EcoHealth Alliance and the One Health Institute at the University of California, Davis (UC-Davis). They show US-funded research was conducted without adequate safeguards or oversight.
Documents reveal concerns over sample handling in China
The EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based NGO, has led the investigations into the origins of SARS-CoV-2. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, it worked with Chinese researchers at WIV on "gain of function" (GoF) research on coronaviruses. Such research is believed to have possibly resulted in a lab accident triggering the pandemic. The One Health Institute oversaw a federal program called "PREDICT," which sought to detect zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential.
Questions arise over virus sample handling and research transparency
However, the program has come under scrutiny for funding researchers who handled viruses poorly. On August 1, 2019, One Health Project Scientist Corina Grigorescu Monagin wrote to Ava Sullivan, the coordinator of PREDICT in India, and inquired about the safety and nature of work being conducted in China and India along with Southeast Asian and African nations. She also inquired about the return of these samples. This indicates that Monagin was not aware of how virus samples were being handled.
US government funds continued to flow into China
Despite US AID cutting funds over biosafety concerns at WIV, documents reveal that money continued to flow into China through other routes. For example, University of Oklahoma Professor Xiangming Xiao received a National Science Foundation grant for research in China. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that WIV and other Chinese institutions received over $2 million in US government funds for GoF research between 2014-2021.
