A damning congressional report sheds light on new details about a convicted criminal from China who ran an unlicensed laboratory in California that stored dangerous pathogens.
The 43-page report, prepared by a Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee on U.S. relations with China, specifically accuses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of failing to test the biological materials discovered in refrigerators and freezers at the location in China. Reedley, California.
The document paints a picture of fraud and conspiracy between a biologist working under an assumed name and the Chinese Communist Party to violate US intellectual property laws.
The report follows an extensive investigation into the laboratory’s origins and local and federal government responses to its discovery.
It also provides a fuller picture of the risky ways the lab’s owner acquired a wide range of dangerous diseases ranging from Ebola to malaria and Covid, which DailyMail.com has reported extensively.
The owner of the Prestige Biolab, formerly Universal Meditech, assumed the false identity of David He after illegally entering the US. The man’s real name is Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, a Chinese citizen
Mr. Zhu has claimed that he was merely a “special representative” for the company that preceded the company that ran the Reedley laboratory. But employees have stated that Zhu is the “chief executive” and “owner” who actually controls the UMI/Prestige Biotech operations at the Reedley Biolab.
The Chinese Communist Party’s House Select Committee launched its investigation into the clandestine laboratory last spring, shortly after a Reedley Code enforcement officer noticed a garden hose coming from a building where it should not have been.
The lucky catch triggered a combined state, local and federal investigation in March, which found a small room with nearly 1,000 white mice crammed into storage containers under bright lights in an airless room 24 hours a day, seven days a week . dirty bedding. When researchers found them, hundreds were already dead.
A wide range of vials were also discovered containing biomaterials, including blood and tissue, as well as many other unlabeled chemicals.
Some vials were found to contain chlamydia, E. Coli, streptococcal pneumonia, hepatitis B and C, herpes 1 and 5, rubella and malaria.
Nearly 1,000 abused and malnourished white laboratory mice were discovered in poor conditions at the facility. About 200 of them were already dead. The remainder were humanely euthanized by a veterinarian
Several of the 32 freezers found containing biological material and dangerous pathogens were not functioning properly because the power to the building had gone out
Among hundreds of vials containing infectious viruses and bacteria, many of which had been improperly stored in poor freezers, were samples of malaria, pictured here, next to Chinese characters. Other infectious agents found included strains of the herpes virus, the bacteria that causes meningitis, chlamydia, Covid-19 and HIV.
It appears that the biological waste generated at the site was disposed of in a manner that violated the safe disposal protocols required by the state’s medical waste management law.
The owner of the Prestige Biolab, formerly Universal Meditech, assumed the false identity of David He after illegally entering the US when he was served with an arrest warrant in Canada, where he remains a wanted fugitive and is facing a $ 330 million at risk for stealing American intellectual property.
The man’s real name is Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, a Chinese national who was “part of an ongoing transnational criminal enterprise with ties to the (People’s Republic of China).”
The report also stated that Zhu and his associates at the Reedley laboratory had purchased counterfeit pregnancy and Covid test kits from China and resold them in the US with the “Made in the USA” label. The Food and Drug Administration later issued a recall for these tests.
The committee specifically targeted the CDC for its “baffling refusal” to test the samples found in the laboratory to determine whether the labels on them were correct. The CDC also did not test the unlabeled samples.
The report read: “Local officials informed the CDC of their concerns. The CDC continued to refuse to test samples.
According to local officials, they also asked if the CDC could at least test a random sample of the pathogens. The CDC still refused.
“Despite their limited local budget, local officials subsequently offered to pay the CDC for the full cost of testing these samples. The CDC still did not do so and left the site.”
The committee document also said that local officials reported that the CDC hung up on them mid-call.
Now that the report is out, lawmakers, including Congressman Jim Costa, who represents the district where Reedley is located, are pushing for legislation that would prevent illegal biolabs from operating under the radar in the future.
In May, when CDC officials joined the local government’s investigation with an in-person inspection, they found hundreds of vials containing infectious viruses and bacteria in the laboratory.
County officials were skeptical from the start of Mr. He’s legitimate connection to Prestige Biotech, noting that he had not provided satisfactory documentation to the county’s public health department that he was an authorized agent of the company or its predecessor, UMI .
A Fresno County official said last spring, “Mr. He’s alleged lack of knowledge of infectious agents on the property raises serious concerns about the lack of safety protocols and guidelines offered by Prestige Biotech and other business entities dealing with these infectious agents as a serious threat to public health. public health and safety.”