The illegal Chinese bio lab in California should be a national scandal
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
The illegal Chinese bio lab in California remains an underdiscussed issue when it should be treated as a national scandal, even as more details continue to emerge about the story.
The lab, which was operating secretly and unpermitted in Reedley, California, was dealing with at least 20 infectious agents, including HIV, hepatitis, and herpes, though lab workers claimed the lab was making only pregnancy tests and COVID-19 tests. Prestige Biotech, the Chinese company that took over Universal Meditech and set up shop at the warehouse in Reedley, had its COVID tests recalled earlier this year.
US MILITARY CAN’T IGNORE CHINA AND RUSSIA’S ALASKA FLOTILLA
We know now that the report that the lab had mice bioengineered to “catch and carry the COVID-19 virus” appears to have been a misinterpretation. While that is what is claimed in court documents, it was the result of a conversation with Prestige Biotech representative Wang Zhaolin, who spoke broken English. It appears that the mice were used to grow COVID-19 antibody cells for the test kits that ended up being recalled.
But that detail doesn’t change the series of red flags in this story. The lab was operating illegally, without a permit, in secrecy. It was being run by a Chinese company that is registered in Nevada. According to Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba, Universal Meditech or Prestige Biotech had also been “kicked out” of Canada and Texas before setting up its locations in Fresno, Reedley, and Tulare, another California city in which the company had operated from 2015-2019.
The lab contained several infectious agents that appear to have nothing to do with COVID tests, along with 200 dead mice. None of this was permitted, and Prestige Biotech was not registered as a medical waste generator. The company then wanted to move its lab and infectious agents to a new location right next to Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
On top of all of this, Prestige Biotech appears to have received $150,000 in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to a letter from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA). That money was paid in April 2020 and April 2021, meaning that the second installment was paid after Prestige Biotech had moved its operations and the assets from Universal Meditech into the secret, illegal Reedley location.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Given that we already know that China runs several secret police stations across the world to harass dissidents, which includes stations on U.S. soil, who is to say that there aren’t more illegal Chinese bio labs operating in the U.S.? Given that the COVID pandemic almost certainly started from a Chinese lab in Wuhan, the operation of a secret Chinese lab illegally dealing with infectious agents on U.S. soil should raise at least one red flag, shouldn’t it? And that’s before you get to other financial questions, such as how Prestige Biotech received PPP loans after relocating to Reedley.
There should be investigations and inquiries by both Congress and the California government. Just as importantly, there should be a national conversation about this lab, its activities, and the possibility that there are more labs like it across the country.