Empower Oversight sent a FOIA to the NIH because they DELETED the original sequencing of COVID-19 from their database. What came back is stunning. Newly released emails are included. Amazing reporting from Michelle Edwards for UncoverDC:
Critical Findings in the 238 Pages of NIH Documents
The recently released emails show that on Mar. 17, 2020, a researcher from Wuhan University submitted genetic sequences to the NIH to upload to the SRA. Then, in early June 2020, the researcher requested that the agency remove them. The NIH—which admittedly funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan—initially declined to delete the data. However, when the researcher made the same request in mid-June, with a different rationale for the deletion, the NIH removed the sequences.
Interestingly, Empower Oversight notes that “the researcher’s first rationale for removal was compliant with the NIH’s conditions for removal, but his latter rationale was not.” The day after the researcher’s second request, the NIH agreed to the deletion and sought clarification from the Wuhan University researcher on whether he wanted to also delete his previous submission, which the agency had refused to remove a week earlier. The researcher responded, indicating he wanted both submissions, as well as all related bioprojects and biosamples, removed…..
Americans Deserve Transparency from the NIH
In releasing these documents, Empower Oversight points out they “raise several questions that need further investigation to answer fully.” The group says one of the most disturbing elements of the emails is proof showing the NIH has refused to participate in a transparent process to examine data on the deleted sequences. The group—which released a COVID-19 origins timeline in Sept. 2021—urges Congress to “press the NIH for answers on why it is stonewalling Senate inquiries and dragging its feet on basic transparency through FOIA,” adding:
“Most importantly, why has NIH refused to examine archival copies of deleted sequences in an open scientific process to determine whether any of that information might be able to shed light on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic?”
https://uncoverdc.com/2022/03/29/just-released-docs-reveal-nih-deleted-covid-data-for-wuhan-researcher/