The Danger of ‘Invisible’ #Biolabs Across the U.S.

Opinion by Dan Greene, August 31, 2023

"Recently, many #California residents were disturbed to learn that a small, privately-operated bio lab in the #CentralValley town of #Reedley was shut down by Fresno County Department of Public Health officials after they found that it had been improperly managing almost 1,000 laboratory mice and samples of infectious diseases including #COVID19, #rubella, #malaria, #dengue, #chlamydia, #hepatitis, and #HIV. The lab was registered to a company called #PrestigeBiotech that sold a variety of medical testing kits, including for pregnancy and COVID-19, and it was likely storing disease samples for the purpose of developing and validating its testing kits. Government authorities are still investigating the company’s history, but it appears to have previously operated a lab in Fresno under the name Universal MediTech, where city officials flagged it for investigation regarding improperly stored chemicals.

"From what is publicly known, the Reedley lab should likely have followed proper biosafety practices to minimize the risks of an #outbreak, and it apparently failed to do so. It could have caused illness, disruption, or even death among local communities and beyond depending on the circumstances of an outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (#CDC) maintains a system of four 'Biosafety Level' standards that are used worldwide for work with dangerous pathogens. Based on the pathogens that were being used at the Reedley lab, it probably should have followed Biosafety Level 3, which involves controlling the airflow inside the lab as well as a host of other practices, equipment, and facility design requirements.

"Yet, astonishingly, the U.S. government seems to not have even known that the Reedley lab existed until it was discovered by chance by Jesalyn Harper, an observant local city code enforcement officer—the only such officer working full-time in the entire city. Once discovered, the Fresno County and California Departments of Public Health found it to be in violation of local and state codes, including those for registering clinical labs and managing medical waste. Based on our reading of available information, it was likely also in violation of federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations for protecting workers from bloodborne pathogens. But these codes require proactive reporting, and the lab simply never reported any issues to regulators. In slightly different circumstances, it would likely have continued to operate unnoticed for a long time."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-danger-of-invisible-biolabs-across-the-u-s/ar-AA1g2xoJ?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=63e1f402a65c4defaf12a4efa4962d12&ei=7

#BioHazard #LabSafety #Pathogens
Potential #Pandemic #LabLeak

Prominent scientist ‘downplayed #Covid #LabLeak theory to avoid upsetting #China’

Private messages show Prof Andrew Rambaut of #EdinburghUniversity helped stifle debate into #virus’s origins because he feared ‘s---show’ for accusing Beijing

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/22/covid-lab-leak-prof-andrew-rambaut-avoid-upsetting-china/

On Friday, Biden admin published a previously classified intelligence report acknowledging that after 3 years of investigations, there is still no evidence that COVID-19 was created in a laboratory by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China.

https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Report-on-Potential-Links-Between-the-Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-and-the-Origins-of-COVID-19-20230623.pdf

#covid #wuhan #LabLeak #conspiracy #CovidIsNotOver #cia #FakeNews #propaganda

#Lableak #Coverup: The book provides numerous case studies of near-miss incidents, #infections and outbreaks caused by lax #safety at some of the world’s top #labs and shows the extraordinary efforts that have been taken to downplay the significance of safety #breaches and keep #accidents #secret.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/30/lab-leaks-shrouded-secrecy

#Lableak #Coverup: The book provides numerous case studies of near-miss incidents, #infections and outbreaks caused by lax #safety at some of the world’s top #labs and shows the extraordinary efforts that have been taken to downplay the significance of safety #breaches and keep #accidents #secret.

Whatever you think of the #lableak hypothesis, this is vital for #pandemic risk reduction .
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RT @TheWCS
Any future pandemic prevention agreement must address the wildlife trade for human consumption, says WCS co-authored piece in @TheLancetPlanet.

"If we have learned anything from the #COVID19 pandemic," said WCS's @sslieberman, a co-author, "governments must take all necessary… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1643279593506308100
https://twitter.com/TheWCS/status/1643279593506308100

Recent findings suggest that animals being sold at Wuhan market WERE infected with Covid19, undermining conspiracy theorists' argument that the pandemic must have began as a lab leak, since no covid-infected animals had been found at the market.

https://www.science.org/content/article/covid-19-origins-missing-sequences

#covid #wuhan #LabLeak #zoonosis #pandemic

https://youtu.be/ha8bHR35iE4 #lableak US debate

Scientists lean towards a natural spillover from animals, but China’s opacity means a lab leak can’t be ruled out. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/3/11/three-years-later-what-we-know-how-did-covid-19-start mistake; labworkers infectef in 2019 not 2020! #lableak #covidorigin

It has been three years since the MoS revealed fears of a Covid leak https://mol.im/a/11821801 via https://dailym.ai/android #covidorigin #lableak

Unanimous House vote sends bill to declassify US intelligence info about COVID origins to US President Joe Biden. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/10/us-legislators-approve-covid-origins-intel-declassification #lableak #covidorigin

Both sides of the controversy over the origins of covid (Wuhan lab leak vs natural origin) downplay or ignore the very real impact of capitalism, via habitat destruction, climate crisis, and pollution, on the increasing encroachment of humans into habitats of wild animals, causing increases in zoonoses (diseases jumping species into humans)

#covid #pandemic #Wuhan #LabLeak #zoonotic #ClimateCrisis

Glad to see this from @Angie_rasmussen https://wapo.st/3ZQonCq #Coronavirus #LabLeak

Watch: #Biden Admin DEFENDS Gain Of Function | Counter Points

Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky are joined by White House reporter Philip Wegmann to break down his coverage of the origins of #Covid and #GainOfFunction research.

https://piped.video/watch?v=6syMYZc9nLE
#LabLeak

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-still-wants-identify-origins-covid-19-2023-03-03/ #lableak #CovidOrigin

@kakape zoonotisch war und ist die Pandemie auf jeden Fall - die Frage ist ob Labormaus oder Verocells der #Zwischenwirt waren.... #inveroveritas #Lableak

RT @revkin
@JimRobbins19 #motivatedreasoning The push by the #FBI on pandemic #lableak hypothesis reminds me a lot of Jim Kallstrom’s eagerness for the explosion of TWA #Flight800 to be deemed a criminal act. I expect a similar result. https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/safety-messages/safetymessage-2011-01-09-twa800inflightbreakup.pdf?sfvrsn=6fae1ef8_4 and https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1997/11/20/221139.html?pageNumber=38

I found the source for the public health degrees of the FBI and Energy Department.

#Covid19
#FBI
#EnergyDepartment
#LabLeak
#NaturalOrigin

I’ve seen compelling and reasonable arguments for both sides of the lab leak/wet market argument. In the end, China looks bad either way, and China’s authoritarian system has made it potentially impossible to know the truth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/us/politics/china-lab-leak-coronavirus-pandemic.html

#COVID #LabLeak #Wuhan #China

Virologist who tried to bully away lab leak theory simpers over China https://mol.im/a/11756909 via https://dailym.ai/android #lableak #Covidorigin