Chinese-funded infectious disease lab in California investigated by House
Gabrielle M. Etzel
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Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, announced a bipartisan investigation into the illegal, Chinese-owned laboratory in California known to have been working on several infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“We are committed to investigating the origin of COVID-19, but also assessing the federal government’s ability to keep America safe from biological threats,” wrote Wenstrup in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “This assessment is critical to bolstering our ability to prepare for and prevent future pandemics.”
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Prestige Biotech, a Chinese-owned medical company, took over the research laboratory in Reedley, California, near Fresno, after the American-based company Universal Meditech filed for bankruptcy and shut down.
Local, state, and federal law enforcement raided the warehouse site of Prestige in Reedley in March to investigate the property operating without a license for medical research.
Further analysis conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Select Agents and Toxins found that “at least 20 potentially infectious agents were stored under inadequate conditions,” Wenstrup wrote to Wray.
Viruses found at the lab by investigators included malaria, HIV, E. coli, Hepatitis A and B, Rubella, and chlamydia as well as SARS-CoV-2.
County investigators told local news outlets that nearly 1,000 bio-engineered mice were found in the laboratory, and a spokesperson for Prestige confirmed for local investigators that the mice were genetically altered to spread COVID-19.
Wenstrup requested that the FBI provide the Subcommittee with all internal and inter-agency communications regarding Prestige and Universal Meditech by Sept. 6, the day after the House reconvenes from the current state-work period.
Wenstrup also sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra requesting all communications within his department, especially between the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, by the same deadline. The letter to Becerra also requests all documents and communications from the CDC Division of Select Agents and Toxins for the period of their investigation into the Prestige lab.
“Reports of unlicensed operations at a research facility in Fresno County, California, are deeply concerning, and we appreciate law enforcement’s ongoing investigation into this matter,” a spokesperson for the minority members of the Subcommittee told the Washington Examiner. “Enhancing our nation’s biosecurity is a top priority and remains a central focus of Select Subcommittee Democrats’ work to prevent and prepare for the next pandemic.”
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Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), ranking member of the Subcommittee, was unavailable to provide comment on the investigation due to assisting with Hurricane Hillary aftermath efforts in his district, according to his office.
“As mounting intelligence and evidence supports that COVID-19 likely originated at a lab in Wuhan, China, conducting a thorough investigation into Prestige Biotech’s illegal bio-lab on U.S. soil is crucial to protecting America’s national security and preventing future outbreaks and pandemics,” read a statement from the Republicans on the Subcommittee.