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

[fooferdoggie]

so strange.

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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[Altaic]

I’m really interested in hearing more about this, especially considering that even Fox (or any other network) isn’t trying to spin it (but have briefly covered it).

 

[GermanSuplex]

This is why we need more deregulation! - R’s

 

[AG_PhamD]

I think this story is blown a bit out of proportion. You had a sketchy lab that was not compliant with regulators. They were evicted from their previous property and moved their materials into “storage” in this recently uncovered facility. It seem like they may have been doing some work out of this location or did at some point, but the fact they had hundreds of dead or starving mice sounds like this was largely abandoned.

There also seems to be some confusion about the “bioengineered mice” reported to “carry COVID-19” or to produce the virus. These mice were bred to produce COVID-19 antibodies used in COVID-19 tests that they were producing, that appear to be unauthorized.

I suspect these situations may not be as uncommon as we’d like to think. There are plenty of fraudulent diagnostic labs that have been cracked down (Theranos being an exceptional example). Research is expensive and heavily regulated. Anything involving animals is heavily regulated. Improper storage and processing of biomedical waste/biohazards is not terribly uncommon. Even our high level BSL labs have made some pretty horrific mistakes in handling biohazardous materials.

This is why we need more deregulation! - R’s

Republicans certainly are happy to deregulate a lot of things, especially if it involves involves environmental regulations. But when it comes to medical related topics I don’t think that necessarily holds true- Embryonic Stem Cell research under Bush, the current opinion on “gain of function” research, abortion, transgender healthcare, etc. I would be remiss to say however when it comes to the FDA both parties have been captured by the pharma industry to the detriment of consumers.