'Fairly shocking': Secret medical lab in California stored bioengineered mice laden with COVID (1 Viewer)

[fooferdoggie]

this is so crazy.
A monthslong investigation into a rural California warehouse uncovered an illegal laboratory filled with infectious agents, medical waste and hundreds of mice bioengineered "to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus," according to Fresno County authorities.

Health and licensing said Monday that Prestige Biotech, a Chinese medical company registered in Nevada, was operating the unlicensed facility in Reedley, California, a small city about 24 miles southeast of Fresno. The company, according to Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba, had a goal of being a diagnostics lab.

"They never had a business license," Zieba told USA TODAY. "The city was completely unaware that they were in this building, operating under the cover of night."

The Fresno County Public Health Department launched its investigation into the facility in December 2022 after a code enforcement officer saw a garden hose attached to a building that was presumed to be vacant and had no active business license, Zieba said.

Further inspection in March revealed that the facility housed various chemicals, suspected biological materials, bodily fluids and hundreds of lab mice, among other lab supplies, according to court documents

'Fairly shocking': Secret medical lab in California stored bioengineered mice laden with COVID

An investigation into the California warehouse revealed hundreds of bioengineered mice, infectious agents and medical waste, officials said.

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[Dragon]

Sounds like a creditor who took over a defunded business with no knowlegde of how to handle biological hazzards or how do run a business like this

Prestige Biotech had been operating the unlicensed and unregulated laboratory since October 2022, according to court documents.

Emails between city officials and Xiuquin Yao, the company president, showed that Prestige Biotech had assumed assets from the now-defunct company Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI). Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and became its successor, court documents said.

The assets were then moved to the Reedley warehouse from a site in Fresno, court documents said.

 

[zztop]

I read about that a few days ago too. My first thought was "how did that go unnoticed for so long?" and to think it would have continued to be unnoticed if not for that garden hose left outside

"The Fresno County Public Health Department launched its investigation into the facility in December 2022 after a code enforcement officer saw a garden hose attached to a building that was presumed to be vacant and had no active business license, Zieba said."