ATLANTA (AP) — A $214 million bioterror germ lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has experienced repeated problems with airflow systems, government documents and internal e-mails show.

USA Today reports that the airflow systems are designed to help prevent the release of infectious agents.

The federal agency says there have been no releases of germs and no one has been hurt. However, a biosafety expert told the newspaper that the problems appear to be major violations of laboratory operating standards.

The part of the building where the airflow problems have occurred includes labs that can be used for experiments involving anthrax, dangerous strains of influenza, the SARS coronavirus, monkeypox and other microbes that have the potential to be used as bioweapons.