FBI uncovers Chinese secret biotech lab

[New Sancai Compilation First Edition] An incident involving the illegal establishment of a virus laboratory in China broke out in Fresno County, California. Local and federal agencies spent several months investigating an unlicensed warehouse in Fresno County. At least 20 infectious diseases, bacteria and viruses were improperly stored in the laboratory, including chlamydia, E. coli, HIV 1 and 2, malaria and SARS-CoV-2.

Global Medical Technology Company moves everywhere

Last December, a law enforcement officer received an anonymous tip that an unlicensed medical technology laboratory was hidden in an old refrigerated warehouse. Dozens of large and small freezers were found, filled with vials of blood, serum and tissue samples, cartons and containers of various chemicals, and stored medical laboratory equipment. Hundreds of experimental mice eventually had to be euthanized due to extreme pain.

Nina. Nina Salazar worked here as a laboratory technician from 2015 to 2018, and the biological company was registered as Universal Meditech Inc.

During that time, she and about 15 other employees assembled pregnancy, diabetes and drug testing kits, she said. "I'm excited because I have a job," she said. "It makes me feel important because we have to wear lab coats and stuff like that."

But she said there was also something "weird and suspicious" about the place. She said that there are occasional problems with salary. "When an investment unit comes to visit, the boss will find people from outside to top up the salary and work on the production line." In order to make the laboratory seem to be operating normally.

Some of the unidentified chemicals Nina and her colleagues worked with. "We make a purple liquid to test, and we have to mix chemicals and cook it," she said. "All they told us was that it was a special liquid that was perfect for the test strips," she said. "But they never told us what the chemicals were." "People in management often speak Chinese, so we don't know what they are talking about." She said she didn't know what the chemicals were, which was worrying. Universal Medical and its affiliate Prestige Biotech Inc. were hit by Reedley and Fleiss five years ago over various disputes they were involved in in the small town of Reedley, California. Investigations by local agencies in North Carolina as well as state and federal agencies.

Later, Universal Medical Technology moved its operations to Tulare, California from 2015 to 2018, and moved to Fresno at the end of 2018. It will not move its operations to Reedley, California until the end of 2022. The company moved into a leased warehouse there and never applied for a business license or permits for electrical wiring and other building improvements, the city said. Officials confirmed that the company also did not have the permits required to handle and dispose of medical or hazardous waste in Fresno County.

Local officials issue warning

The Environmental Health Department oversees licensing of medical laboratories and other facilities that generate medical waste, said Carrie Monteiro, a county health department spokesperson. "Upon review, we were unable to find any records of Universal Medical Technologies or any medical waste generation licenses for the company," she said. "Unfortunately, we have no information because we do not have Universal Medical Technologies applying or issuing licenses." Records of any health licenses for laboratory locations in Leary County." In August 2018, Universal Medical Technologies received approval to move into a building on East Fortune Avenue in south Fresno, according to information provided by the city of Fresno. The company operates its laboratory facilities there until it moves out in December.

A fire in August 2020 resulted in the discovery of unpermitted lab walls and unapproved electrical wiring at the Fresno facility. Within days of the fire, an environmental health inspector from the Fresno County Department of Public Health inspected the building along with City of Fresno fire and code enforcement officials, who determined that the laboratory did not contain hazardous materials required for commercial use. plan or county permit. County Health Department Deputy Director Joe Prado said.

Prado said in a presentation to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the company did complete the steps required to obtain a hazardous materials permit on Sept. 1, 2020. The lab apparently flew off the radar of city and county officials for more than two years, in part because the city of Fresno scaled back inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, in October 2022, Fresno fire and code enforcement inspectors notified the county health department that chemicals were being stored in the laboratory. Prado said Tuesday that the company had been responding to health department requests for specific information about chemicals used and stored in the lab through November 2022, until finally on Nov. 29, a representative for the property's landlord told county officials that the court had It was ruled that Global Medical Technologies must vacate the premises within a specified date.

Reedley Mayor Nicole. Nicole Zieba told the Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that Global Medical Technologies quietly moved to Reedley and set up storage for laboratory materials without obtaining a business license. "They are dishonest business owners. They don't want us to know they are here," she said. That's why they move in under cover of darkness and why they never apply for a business permit. She added that an investigation by Reedley law enforcement officers and county and state health officials revealed that the former refrigerated space was used for little more than storage of equipment, medical devices, biological agents and samples. And the chemicals and lab mice were apparently hastily moved in from the Fresno factory.

House Republicans investigate illegal Chinese-funded labs

The leader of a House panel investigating the COVID-19 pandemic is demanding that the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (CDC) turn over records from the illegal Chinese laboratory.

House Coronavirus Pandemic Subcommittee Chairman Brad. Weinstrup (R-Ohio) asked FBI Director Christopher Wray and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Wray. Becerra requested documents and communications about the lab.

"We are committed to investigating the origins of COVID-19 while also assessing the federal government's ability to protect the United States from biological threats," Weinstrup wrote to Wray and Becerra.

The Republican subcommittee chairman asked that documents related to the federal investigation into the laboratory be provided by September 6. He also said some of the company's employees might be asked to participate in recorded interviews.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin. McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose congressional district covers parts of Fresno, said earlier this month that he was "disturbing" to learn of the seizure of illegal Chinese-funded labs and said he would also report it The matter was referred to the House of Representatives Special Committee on the Communist Party of China.

(Compiled by: Li Mengzhen)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: First published by Xinsancai)