California officers have been stunned after they found that what gave the impression to be an extraordinary warehouse turned out to be a black-market medical testing facility, housing hazardous chemical compounds, bioengineered mice, and Covid-19 take a look at kits.
The startling revelation got here to mild in December, prompting the Fresno County Public Well being Division to launch an investigation into the lab and its origins.
In a current announcement, officers revealed that the ability belonged to Status Biotech, a Chinese language firm registered in Nevada, as reported by USA Right now.
In accordance with the corporate’s assertion to investigators, they have been engaged in manufacturing Covid-19 checks and being pregnant checks, with aspirations of changing into a diagnostics lab.
The situation of the lab, positioned in Reedley, California – a metropolis southeast of Fresno, shocked the investigators. Joe Prado, the assistant director of the Fresno County Division of Public Well being, expressed his disbelief, stating, “I’ve by no means seen this in my 26-year profession with the County of Fresno,” as quoted by KSEE. The lab contained over 800 totally different chemical compounds, a few of which remained unidentified, saved in numerous bottles of various acids.
Of explicit concern was a particular room inside the warehouse that housed roughly 1000 white lab mice, as described by Reedley metropolis supervisor Nicole Zieba to the information outlet.
Shockingly, almost 180 of those mice have been already lifeless, stored in crowded cages with no entry to meals or water. These animals have been genetically modified to be vulnerable to Covid-19 as a part of testing for laboratory mice that will help the event of the on-site Covid-19 take a look at kits, as defined by Prado.
The lab contained different disturbing contents, together with bodily fluids, viruses like HIV and malaria, and lots of unlabeled liquids.
Whereas the mice needed to be euthanized, officers managed to soundly take away many of the lab’s harmful supplies. Zieba said, “There are not any extra biologicals. There are not any extra mice, however they nonetheless will see us abating, 30 freezers and fridges, medical gear, and all types of furnishings in there. They’ll nonetheless see some exercise, nothing hazardous at this level,” in accordance with KSEE.
The scenario prompted a federal investigation into the lab, which remains to be ongoing.
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