Thousands of vials of biological material — including some labeled “HIV” — and refrigerators marked “Ebola” were found inside a secret Chinese-owned biolab in California that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI initially refused to investigate, according to a House committee report. released Wednesday.
The illegal lab was operated in the town of Reedley, Calif., and the potential public safety risk it posed only became apparent in December 2022 when Jesalyn Harper, an observant code enforcement officer, noticed a green garden hose coming out of a hole next to a warehouse that had been thought to be vacant for more than a decade. .
Once inside, Harper found lab equipment, manufacturing devices, medical-grade freezers, lab rats and vials labeled in Mandarin, English and in an as-yet-undeciphered code.
He also found several individuals in lab coats who identified themselves as Chinese.
Hoses emerging from a hole thought to be an empty warehouse told Greeley code enforcement officials.AP Hundreds of tons of research equipment and refrigerators were found at the facility.KSEE/KGPE
Harper’s findings set off a 9-month investigation by the city, which eventually contacted Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), after being blocked by the CDC and the FBI, to find out what was going on inside the illegal lab.
In a 42-page report, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which launched its own investigation into the matter in September, detailed some of its surprising findings and the troubling questions raised by the presence of an apparently Chinese-owned research lab. on US soil.
“Local officials spent months repeatedly trying to get help from CDC,” the report states, noting that “CDC refused to speak with them and, on several occasions, local officials reported that CDC hung up on them mid-conversation. “
“Local officials were also unable to obtain any assistance from other federal agencies,” congressional investigators found, including the FBI, which informed local officials that “it has closed its investigation because the Bureau believes that there are no weapons of mass destruction on the property.”
Lab rats are also found in biolabs. The CDC found at least 20 labeled bottles thought to contain the deadly pathogen.
With Costa’s help, CDC officials eventually showed up at the Greeley biolab and identified at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including several “serious or fatal human diseases.”
Some of the potential infectious agents found by the agency include SARS-CoV-2, Chlamydia, HIV, E. coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hepatitis B and C, Dengue virus, Rubella virus and Malaria.
The CDC, however, refused to test the samples or examine the unlabeled bottles, even after city officials offered to pay for the testing.
The CDC refused to test the vials to confirm their contents.
The report slammed the CDC’s initial refusal to get involved and its reluctance to test the vials as “unacceptable.”
In July, under a court order, local officials contracted a hazardous waste firm to carry out the destruction of 140 tons of laboratory equipment and 440 gallons of medical and biological waste found at the site.
During this process, a previously undetected freezer labeled “Ebola” was found. The disease has a mortality rate of between 25% and 90% once it is infected.
“Local officials and contractors reported that they found a refrigerator labeled ‘Ebola’ with silver sealed bags found inside consistent with the way Reedley Biolab operators store biological and other sensitive materials,” the report states, noting that containers in the refrigerator unclear. labeled “Ebola.”
Local officials notified the CDC of their findings, and the agency responded by saying it did not recall seeing the Ebola label.
The refrigerator and its contents were destroyed, without being tested, according to the report.
The picture of the refrigerator labeled Ebola does not exist, according to the report.
The panel’s investigation also revealed a complex relationship between Reedley’s biolab owner and founder, Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, and the Chinese Communist Party.
Zhu served as a corporate officer at China’s military-civilian coalition and private organizations affiliated with the Chinese government.
Zhu has been charged with fraud and making false statements.
Zhu entered the US illegally, via Canada, after being hit with a $330 million Canadian court judgment in 2016 for running a company involved in the “massive theft of American cattle-related intellectual property,” according to the report.
“The court found that Zhu and his PRC partners made many troubling statements as part of their scheme. This includes an instance where Zhu, in response to a co-conspirator’s reference to ‘American imperialism,’ replied that ‘the law is strong, but the criminals are ten times stronger.’
In another instance, Zhu claimed that his fraudulent activities would help ‘defeat American invaders and ambitious wolves!’” the report stated, citing Zhu’s private messages sent through the Chinese app WeChat.
Once in the US, Zhu operated under the alias “David He” and began working to establish a network of biotech companies, including the Greeley biolab.
“To incorporate and administer many of these companies, Zhu turned to accountants tied to CCP-linked entities,” House investigators found.
The House panel found that “with the exception of Ebola,” the labeled vials of presumed pathogens found at the Greeley biolab were “inconsistent with the conduct of the bioweapons program.” Superior Court of the State of California
The select committee found evidence showing that Zhu and his associates at Reedley biolab purchased counterfeit COVID-19, pregnancy, ovulation and nutritional deficiency test kits from China and relabeled and resold the counterfeit ones in the US as “Made in the USA.”
The fraud scheme, however, did not require or explain the presence of pathogens, equipment or freezers found in Zhu’s lab, according to congressional investigators.
“There is little or no market for test kits that will test for the vast majority of pathogens Reedley Biolab appears to contain, let alone test kits created in unlicensed laboratories,” the report said.
Zhu was subsequently indicted on federal charges related to fraud and false statements in an FDA-led investigation, according to the report.
The House panel found that “with the exception of Ebola,” the labeled vials of presumed pathogens found at the Greeley biolab were “inconsistent with the conduct of the bioweapons program.”
The report warned, however, that “the public health risks posed by the lab are unknown and, at this point, unknowable.”
“At the very least, Reedley Biolab shows the profound threat that unlicensed and unknown biolabs pose to our country. At worst, this investigation reveals significant gaps in our national defenses and pathogen-related regulations that pose severe national security risks that could be exploited in the future,” the report said. “It is therefore incumbent upon Congress and the Executive Branch to address this vulnerability now before it is too late.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
