{"id":1998514,"date":"2023-08-12T02:06:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T06:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-more-details-on-black-market-chinese-biolab-surface-as-politicians-point-fingers\/"},"modified":"2023-08-12T02:15:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T06:15:22","slug":"in-depth-more-details-on-black-market-chinese-biolab-surface-as-politicians-point-fingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-more-details-on-black-market-chinese-biolab-surface-as-politicians-point-fingers\/","title":{"rendered":"New revelations on Chinese biolab black market emerge as politicians blame each other."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-more-details-on-black-market-chinese-biolab-surface-as-politicians-point-fingers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1998514&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>Two California-based\u200b legislators are\u200d calling \u200cfor an investigation into\u200c a secret Chinese-owned biolab discovered in Reedley, \u200cCalifornia,\u200c and how the company that owned it was approved\u200d for government loans and tax credits amounting \u200cto more than \u200c$500,000.<\/p>\n<p>House \u200dSpeaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) \u2062and Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who\u200c both \u200crepresent \u2064congressional districts in California\u2019s Central Valley, \u200cwrote a letter to the\u200c Pandemic Response Accountability Committee asking \u2064for a probe \u2062into how and why Universal Meditech Inc., was granted two \u200dPayment Protection Program (PPP) loans \u2064of $74,912 each\u200c in April 2020 and\u200c February 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Universal Meditech,\u2064 Inc. was \u200dalso awarded a \u2062$360,000 tax credit\u2063 (<a href=\"https:\/\/business.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/universalmeditech.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) in 2018 under California Gov. Gavin \u200bNewsom&#8217;s CalCompetes GO-Biz program, although the \u2063company\u200d failed\u200d to \u200cmeet guidelines and never actually\u200d received \u200bthose funds.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>Related Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/dangerous-pathogens-found-in-unlicensed-chinese-bio-lab-in-california-5438857\">Dangerous Pathogens\u200d Found in Unlicensed Chinese \u2063Biolab in\u200d California<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>\n        <span>8\/3\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/black-market-biolab-uncovered-in-california-linked-to-china-5438972\">Black \u200dMarket Biolab Uncovered in California Linked to China<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>\n        <span>8\/2\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The black\u200c market lab at 850 I St. was discovered last December when Jesalyn Harper, \u2064a\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-mayor-hires-convicted-sex-offender-who-raped-teenage-girls-to-inspect-homes-residents-ill-be-terrified\/\" title=\"Dem Mayor Hires Convicted Sex Offender Who Raped Teenage Girls To Inspect Homes. Residents: \u2018I\u2019ll Be Terrified\u2019\">code enforcement officer<\/a> \u200cfor\u200b the City of Reedley fire department, noticed\u200c a green garden \u200chose protruding from the back of a \u200bwarehouse. She told The Epoch \u200dTimes she inspected\u2064 the building after receiving\u200b an \u2063anonymous complaint about a possible\u2062 business operating in the \u200bwarehouse which was \u2062believed to be vacant at the \u200ctime.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinese-man-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-trade-secrets-from-st-louis-based-company-to-benefit-the-chinese-government\/\" title=\"Chinese Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing Trade Secrets From St. Louis-Based Company To Benefit The Chinese Government\">secret lab<\/a> was later found to contain thousands of \u2064vials of bacterial \u200band viral agents, including\u200b coronavirus. chlamydia,\u2064 E. coli, streptococcus\u2063 pneumonia,\u200b HIV, hepatitis, herpes, rubella, and malaria, raising grave concerns about biosecurity.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b warehouse \u200bspace, rented by\u2062 Prestige Biotech, \u2062Inc., housed nearly 1,000 lab mice,\u200c 200 of\u200b them found dead. The \u200brest of \u200bthe mice\u2014except for 10 samples stored in a\u200b refrigerated\u200b facility\u2014were euthanized and incinerated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The company is believed to \u2062have produced\u2063 COVID-19 and pregnancy test kits.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:555px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Inside the Prestige Biotech&#8217;s \u2064warehouse in Reedley, California, where furniture, \u200cmedical\u2064 devices, and other materials\u200d were improperly stored. (Nicole \u2064Zieba, Reedley City Manager)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A spokesperson for GO-Biz told \u200cThe Epoch Times\u200b in an Aug. \u206310 email that the company \u201cwas found to be in material breach \u2062of their <a href=\"https:\/\/business.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/CCTC-Meeting-Agenda-6-15-23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax credit agreement<\/a> and on June 15, \u20632023, it was terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey never\u2064 received a single dollar,\u201d\u2064 the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, when the tax credit agreement was signed by\u200d Cheryl Akin,\u2064 deputy director of the governor\u2019s Office of Business \u200band Economic Development, \u200band Universal Meditech CEO \u201cZhaoyan Wang,\u201d the company was operating as a licensed business in California and agreed to hire full-time \u2062employees and invest in\u200b intellectual property and tenant improvements as\u200d part of their expansion in Fresno in exchange for \u2064the\u2063 tax credit, according to the spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>Investigations involving the city, county, state, and federal authorities, including the FBI and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention \u2063(CDC), have alarmed \u200cresidents in this small city \u2062about\u2063 25\u200d miles \u200dsoutheast of Fresno.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Prado, assistant director\u200c of the Fresno County Department\u2063 of Health, released a chronology of events\u200d regarding the company \u2062and\u2062 the biolab \u200cat a County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 8. He stressed the facility \u2064does not pose an \u200dimminent threat to public health and released more \u2064details and photographs of biologic materials that were found inside the warehouse.<\/p>\n<p>During the first\u200c week of July, the County removed \u200b126 44-gallon containers and \u200cone 38-gallon \u200ccontainer, but then discovered another 10 44-gallon containers of \u201cbiologicals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, think of this warehouse. It is packed. It is to \u200dthe ceiling, with boxes,\u201d Mr. Prado said. \u201cAnd everywhere,\u200b as we\u2019re moving things around, we\u2019re finding more chemicals, we\u2019re finding more biologicals, we\u2019re having to deal with\u200d more issues as\u2064 we go through this cleanup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Inspections of\u200b the \u200csite also uncovered\u200d 35 freezers and refrigerators, according to court documents. \u2062They contained\u2064 biological \u200dmaterial, including \u200cblood, tissue, serum,\u2063 bodily\u2062 fluid samples, medical waste, and infectious agents.<\/p>\n<p>All the\u200c freezers and refrigerators were full of blood and tissue samples, Mr.\u200d Prado said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose were\u200c a \u2062particular concern to \u200cus,\u201d he \u200csaid.<\/p>\n<h2>Public Disclosure<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI told all agencies on \u200dDec.\u200b 21, \u20632022, \u201cstand by\u201d while they \u2062assessed whether or not a federal\u2063 investigation would\u2064 be conducted, Mr. Prado said.<\/p>\n<p>Federal and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/warnocks-church-faces-subpoena-threat-as-georgia-runoff-campaign-kicks-off\/\" title=\"Warnock\u2019s Church Faces Subpoena Threat as Georgia Runoff Campaign Kicks Off\">state authorities told<\/a> the city and\u2063 county \u200cnot to \u200dspeak\u2063 out publicly about the ongoing investigation as a matter of protocol, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey \u2063were making it very clear to us we cannot\u200b speak on this,\u201d he said. \u200b\u201cThey\u2019ve made that clear \u2062pretty much from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reedley City\u2063 Manager Nicole Zieba \u2064claimed during the meeting that local \u2063authorities wanted to disclose information about the \u2063biolab discovery sooner but were told not to release\u2062 it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had to be able to come out with as much information\u2062 as we possibly could but when the FBI\u200b and the CDC \u2064and everybody \u200delse in the alphabet soup of state and federal agencies tells\u2063 you we\u2064 cannot\u200d even comment whether we\u2019re doing an\u200d investigation, you cannot\u200c comment,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they tell you that, you\u2019re not going to defy the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Zieba told the board there \u200bis good reason to disclose information now to debunk\u2063 myths about the \u2063facility, about which \u200c\u201cconspiracy theories abound,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One such rumor\u2063 in Reedley is that a grocery\u200b store across the street \u200cfrom the\u2062 warehouse was \u200bshut\u2063 down because mice got out and \u2062infected\u200d the supermarket, she said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>The exterior of a suspected\u200b biolab in \u2062Reedley, Calif., on July \u200b31, 2023. (Nathan Su\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNo, no, no, no, no. The roof is collapsing in the supermarket and \u200dit \u2062shut a year prior to this lab coming \u200cto Reedley. So, it really behooves\u200d us to get \u200cout in front of the media\u2064 now to debunk these myths because the conspiracy theorists are having a field day with it,\u201d \u2064she said.<\/p>\n<p>State and \u2064local authorities believe the\u2063 company, Prestige Biotech which originally operated as Universal Meditech, Inc. \u200bin Fresno, \u2062was not operating as a laboratory but was instead used to store equipment, medical devices, chemicals, and biologic materials such blood,\u2064 urine, \u200cand tissue samples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI \u2064have heard everything. I have \u200dwatched a local politician on national television talking\u2063 about communist Chinese labs that are manipulating viruses. We had\u200c to be able \u2062to come out to the public to say do not listen to the conspiracy theorists. Do \u2062we\u2063 have\u2064 a\u2063 problem? Absolutely. Are \u2062they Chinese nationals? Absolutely. Are they manipulating viruses? No evidence\u2064 of \u2064that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Zieba praised Reedley and Fresno \u200cCounty officials for how they \u2062handled the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis little David city took\u200b down Goliath with a green garden hose,\u201d she \u2063said. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly\u200b proud of\u2062 our city,\u2062 our code enforcement officer, and\u2062 I will stand up anytime and say that\u200d we did \u2062everything \u200bin our power \u200dto keep the public safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Bad\u2019 Company<\/h2>\n<p>Universal\u200c Meditech, Inc. was owned by a group of Canadian and Chinese investors and\u200d specialized in research, development, and the assembly of diagnostic test kits used\u2062 in dairy cattle production, according \u200bto a \u200d2015 article published in \u200bthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visaliatimesdelta.com\/story\/news\/local\/2015\/11\/26\/research-manufacturing-business-planned-tulare\/76394108\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visalia \u200cTimes Delta<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was \u2026 a bad actor company that was kicked out of Canada,\u201d Ms. Zieba \u200bsaid. \u201cThey\u200c went to Texas. They got kicked out of Texas. They came to California, recruited\u200c with\u2064 tax \u2062credits by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In California, \u2063the company set \u2064up operations in Fresno, \u200dthen \u200bmoved to\u200c Tulare, went back to Fresno, and \u200dthen moved to Reedley, Ms. \u2064Zieba \u2062said.<\/p>\n<p>After an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-more-details-on-black-market-chinese-biolab-surface-as-politicians-point-fingers\/\" title=\"New revelations on Chinese biolab black market emerge as politicians blame each other.\">electrical fire caused extensive damage<\/a> at \u2064its leased Fresno facility, the\u2063 company facing financial setbacks\u2063 and threat of eviction was moved to Reedley \u200bwhen \u200cone \u200cof two businesses leasing the facility\u2064 agreed to sublease a vacant warehouse to Prestige Biotech, Ms. Harper, the\u200d code enforcement officer, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>Public <a href=\"https:\/\/cage.report\/DUNS\/080243910\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">records<\/a>, specifically Commercial &#038; Government Entity\u200b reports, \u2062show the business was \u200bregistered in Tulare City, \u200cCalif, but had expired by \u200bMarch\u2063 23, 2017. \u200bThe document \u200dlists Wendy Chen as the contact person \u200dfor \u200bthe business at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200dcompany\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/universal-meditech.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a> posted \u200ba notice on Jan. \u206316, 2023, recalling 56,300 items of\u2062 SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Kits\u2062 branded as Skippack Medical Lab\u200d manufactured \u200bfrom October to \u200bDecember \u200c2021.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2062products were\u200c distributed in January \u20632022,\u200d in California and Texas\u2062 \u201cwithout appropriate premarket clearance or approval which\u2063 potentially could \u2063result in\u2064 inaccurate test results\u200d due \u200bto lack of \u2062performance \u200cevaluation by the FDA,\u201d the announcement stated.<\/p>\n<p>Public records show the company was first registered in Nevada to Zhaolin Wang\u2014also known as Lynn Warner\u2014on\u200c April 3, 2019, before Xiuqin Yao, who is based in China and doesn\u2019t speak English, took \u200dover as president on May 28, 2021, Ms. Harper said.<\/p>\n<p>Harper interviewed \u2063Ms.\u200b Wang and a man\u200c named David He who both said they were consultants for Ms. Yao.<\/p>\n<p>The company hasn\u2019t cooperated well with authorities\u200d in the ongoing investigation which\u2064 has resulted in the abatement warrants, Harper said.<\/p>\n<h2>Blame Game<\/h2>\n<p>Fresno County\u200d Supervisor Nathan Magsig blamed \u200cthe California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for \u2063allegedly advising the County\u200b to\u200c suppress information about the lab,\u2062 keeping \u200cthe \u2062public in\u200d the dark.<\/p>\n<p>At the Aug.\u2062 8 meeting, Mr. Magsig raised the issue of a \u200d\u201cholding\u2064 statement\u201d \u2064that \u200cwas prepared \u2063by the\u2064 county and intended to \u200cbe released in case \u200bthe public \u200bor media began to ask\u200b questions \u2062about activity at the\u200b warehouse.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Magsig\u200d told The Epoch \u2063Times on Aug. \u200b9 the\u200c county \u2062wanted\u200b to release information about the lab discovery to\u2063 the public, but \u201cwere \u2062told not to\u201d by the state, a claim that CDPH has\u2063 flatly denied.<\/p>\n<p>County Public Information Officer, Sonja Dosti,\u200b had prepared the \u2062\u201cholding statement\u201d and sent\u200b it to \u2064CDPH suggesting the information be ready for release in case the public and media asked questions about activity at \u200dthe warehouse as\u200d investigations and cleanup ope<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two California legislators, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Jim Costa, are urging an inquiry into a covert Chinese-owned biolab found in Reedley, California. They question the approval of government loans and tax credits exceeding $500,000 granted to the company. Both legislators represent districts in California&#8217;s Central Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2287,"featured_media":1998515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1998514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1998514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1998515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1998514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1998514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1998514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}