Originally published August 3, 2023 2:31 pm PDT
Concerns are mounting in Reedley, California, as revelations emerge about a Chinese-run biolab, Universal Meditech Inc., that produced potentially contaminated COVID and pregnancy tests.
The lab, linked to China, was found to be in a deplorable state, housing dangerous viruses such as HIV and malaria, and storing hundreds of pathogen samples, blood, and questionable chemicals.
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, expressed his concerns to DailyMail.com, stating that the tests were made “in an environment that’s extraordinarily bad.”
He further emphasized the risk of contamination, saying, “Could there be in the packaging, also, potentially some surface contamination with an infectious agent? I suppose that’s possible in an environment that’s as extraordinarily bad as this one.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had earlier this year recalled 56,300 COVID tests produced by Universal Meditech, as they were unapproved for sale. However, the number of these tests that reached consumers remains undisclosed. Dr. Schaffner warned about the unreliability of the tests, stating, “You would get false positives, false negatives, and the results would simply be unreliable.”
The local community is in uproar, frustrated by the perceived inaction of the local government.
The lab was discovered in December 2022 but was only raided in the spring of 2023.
Residents are demanding answers about the lab employees and the potential risk they posed to the community.
One resident, Melissa Womack Barry, questioned the city manager, Nicole Zieba, asking, “Why weren’t the citizens of Reedley notified by mail or the local newspaper for that matter? And what is the correct date of discovery? I feel so let down by our city and county officials.”
The lab, previously operating under the company name Prestige BioTech, was found to contain labeled viruses and bacteria including hepatitis B and C, dengue, HIV, herpes, tuberculosis, rubella, coronavirus, and malaria during an inspection in March.
Unidentified biomaterials and unlabeled chemicals were also discovered.
Dr. Schaffner emphasized the importance of rigorous infection control policies, stating, “When you’re dealing with infectious agents, you have to do so in a rigorous fashion that’s been approved so that you don’t put the workers, the environment, and the surrounding neighborhood at any kind of risk at all.”
Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, suggested that the lab might have been trying to profit from COVID-19 diagnostic testing, but he dismissed the idea of any sinister intent.
Dr. Schaffner further commented on the lab’s conditions, stating, “If you’re developing diagnostic tests, therapeutics, whatever you’re trying to do, you have to work in an exceedingly precise fashion” and “you can’t do that in an environment such as this has been described.”
The potential environmental contamination from the lab has also raised concerns among experts.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert and director of the University of California San Francisco’s Center for AIDS Research, called for stringent regulation, stating, “Given the potential for such laboratories to accidentally unleash agents that can endanger the public, we need regulation to ensure biosafety is maintained at all times in laboratories around the world studying infectious pathogens.”
