The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said it "strongly disputes" criticism of the federal agency contained in a major new report, produced by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), concerning an alleged secret biolab in Reedley, California.
According to the report, thousands of vials containing potentially dangerous or unknown substances, including some labeled "Ebola" and "HIV," were uncovered during an inspection of what was initially thought to be a vacant warehouse. The facility was uncovered in December 2022 by Jesalyn Harper, a Reedley code enforcement official who spotted a green hose sticking out of the building, and then went in to investigate. Inside, Harper found an array of laboratory equipment, medical-grade freezers, mice for experiments and vials containing writing in English, Mandarin and an unknown code. Several individuals wearing lab coats were also discovered who claimed to be Chinese nationals.
In response to Harper's discovery, the city launched an investigation which eventually involved the California Department of Public Health, the federal Food and Drug Administration, the CDC and the FBI.
It comes amidst heightened tensions between the United States and China, with the world's two biggest economies clashing over trade, human rights and the sovereignty of both Taiwan and the South China Sea. On Wednesday, Chinese premier Xi Jinping held talks with President Joe Biden near San Francisco, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
CDC experts identified a number of potentially infectious agents at the Reedley site, including chlamydia, HIV, Hepatitis B and C, malaria, SARS-CoV-2, Dengue virus and the rubella virus. However, according to the report, they refused to test a number of unlabeled vials, along with a fridge labeled "Ebola," which were destroyed before their exact content could be ascertained.
The House committee report branded the CDC's response "inadequate," claiming the agency initially refused to take a phone call from city and county officials.
It continued: "The CDC's refusal to test any samples is likewise baffling. The CDC observed in its own reporting that '[t]housands of vials had unclear labeling, coded labeling, or no identifications,' that biohazard signs were around many of these unlabeled vials, and that the labeled vials included Risk Group 2 and 3 pathogens.
"Despite the probability that the unlabeled or coded vials contained additional unknown and dangerous pathogens, CDC officials refused to take any further investigative steps."
"The CDC's continued refusal to test pathogens despite reasonable requests and the offer to pay from local officials facing a concerned populace simply does not make sense," it continued.
Speaking to Newsweek, a CDC official with knowledge of the investigation fervently disputed these findings.
Referencing the committee report, they said: "CDC strongly disputes the report's conclusions critical of the agency. The report includes numerous inaccuracies, including both the charge that CDC did not respond to local requests for aid and the false implication that CDC had the authority to unilaterally investigate or seize samples from PBI's Reedley building.
"Indeed, CDC has, and continues to be been actively engaged, within its regulatory authorities, in the intergovernmental efforts to address issues surrounding the facility."
However, this position was vehemently rejected by a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on the CCP who told Newsweek: "First, the CDC claims it responded to requests for aid. But the CDC only responded to Reedley's request for help handling the bio lab after Reedley reached out to its Congressman, Jim Costa. Then once they got there, they even refused to test any of the potentially dangerous pathogens. As you can see in the email attached (the email can be attributed to the Select Committee), the CDC said they were not going to test anything that they couldn't read the label on. So we'll never what was in those vials because they destroyed much of the untested material.
"Second, the CDC claims that they did not have the 'authority to unilaterally investigate', when they absolutely did. The city of Reedley urged the CDC to investigate, which ultimately gives the CDC all the authority it would have needed to investigate. But then to go a step further, the CDC was given authority to investigate via court order.
"The CDC endangered the biosecurity of a town in California and our country."
According to the report, the committee biolab was owned by Jia Bei Zhu, a Chinese national with links to his country's governing Communist Party, who operated through a number of companies including Prestige Biotech Incorporated (PBI). In October, Zhu was arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices in violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and making false statements to the FDA. If convicted he faces a maximum three years in prison.
Update 11/29/23, 2:45 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on the CCP.
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