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The emails, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, depict an official with the Wuhan Institute of Virology scrambling to find disinfectant to sterilize lab equipment in the facility in 2016, shortly after a high-level laboratory opened up there.Wuhan Institute of Virology Vice Director Yuan Zhiming is shown in the emails asking NIH virologist Jens Kuhn for help determining the right disinfectants for the institute's BSL-4 laboratory, which had just recently opened and had not yet started working with viruses. "BSL-4" is the highest level of security at which a lab can be constructed and is reserved for the highest-risk virological research. "I am writing to you to ask your help," Zhiming wrote. "Our laboratory is under operation without pathogens, and we are now looking for the disinfectants for decontamination of airtight suits and surface decontamination indoor decontamination."We have tried several ones do [sic] determine their antiviral efficacy and corrosion to pipeline and wastewater treatment equipment. Unfortunately, we have [sic] found a good candidate. I hope you can give us some help, to give us some suggestion for the choice of disinfectants used in P4 laboratory."Kuhn responded that he was "not the right person to weigh in on official biosafety procedures." He directed Zhiming to several other NIH officials who "may be able to point you in the right directions."
