Illegal lab containing bioengineered mice infected with HIV and herpes in Cali

Illegal lab containing bioengineered mice infected with HIV and herpes in Cali(insider.com)

103 points by FeaturelessBug 2 years ago | 31 comments

> Wang Zhaolin, a representative of the company operating the lab, Prestige Biotech, told investigators that the mice inside the warehouse had been genetically engineered to catch and spread the COVID-19 virus, according to The San Joaquin Valley Sun.

This fact alone shocks the conscience. Criminal charges should fly swift and fierce against everyone involved in this illegal operation.

What’s horrifying is that this biolab was found on a fluke. How many more covert biolabs is China operating in secret in the U.S.?

Paul-Craft 2 years ago | |

Cool your jets there, Maverick. It's not even clear from the article what was illegal about the lab, much less that China was operating it. You can't just say "illegal lab," "COVID-19 virus," and some random Chinese name and jump to those conclusions.

yumraj 2 years ago | | |

Occam’s Razor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Also: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officials-believe-fresn...

An investigation found the tenant was Prestige BioTech, a company registered in Nevada and unlicensed for business in California. City officials spoke with Xiuquin Yao, who was identified as the company president, through emails included in the court documents.

Yao told officials that Prestige BioTech moved assets belonging to a defunct company, Universal Meditech Inc., to the Reedley warehouse from Fresno after UMI went under. Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and identified as its successor, according to court documents.

Officials were unable to get any California-based address for either company except for the previous Fresno location from which UMI had been evicted.

"The other addresses provided for identified authorized agents were either empty offices or addresses in China that could not be verified," court documents said.

georgeplusplus 2 years ago | | |

It's pretty compelling at this point that a chinese lab had a significant undertaking in the development and spread of covid and if you're looking for a 100% undeniable explanation it doesn't exist because that opportunity to investigate is long gone and the Chinese gov forbade anyone from doing a meaningful investigation. Also complicating the truth coming out is that the USA likely played a part through NIH funding the Wuhan lab.

Why anyone acts like it's a conspiracy at this point is pretty funny. This is certainly the time to be skeptical.

topato 2 years ago | |

Whenever I see a company using Prestige in their name, I can't help but think back to the hit Hollywood movie 'Stepbrothers', and the titular brothers' fictional company, Prestige Worldwide

whimsicalism 2 years ago | |

> How many more covert biolabs is China operating in secret in the U.S.?

Is the company even Chinese?

BugsJustFindMe 2 years ago | | |

> Is the company even Chinese?

Seems like yes but with a shady trail of dark corners.

> Yao told officials that Prestige BioTech moved assets belonging to a defunct company, Universal Meditech Inc., to the Reedley warehouse from Fresno after UMI went under. Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and identified as its successor, according to court documents.

> Officials were unable to get any California-based address for either company except for the previous Fresno location from which UMI had been evicted.

> "The other addresses provided for identified authorized agents were either empty offices or addresses in China that could not be verified," court documents said.

inconceivable 2 years ago | |

so the guy with the super duper chinese sounding name who works for the company literally just told the investigators they were doing a bunch of illegal super-villain shit there like genetically modifying animals to spread covid? like, he just said "yeah, we're doing that." ... what?

this is all according to some podunk newspaper called the san joaquin valley sun, of course.

sorry, i don't believe this for a microsecond.

brucethemoose2 2 years ago |

Again, what is the motive? Where is the money coming from?

Secret COVID HIV rats is a Bond villian thing, not something actual criminals do to make a buck.

sct202 2 years ago | |

Universal Meditech Inc one of the companies referenced made covid rapid tests, so the most charitable take on this is it was a sloppily run lab trying to make money on covid tests. There's a recall notice the FDA issued, so they did make something. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety...

tyingq 2 years ago | |

I'm sure there are more reasons, but modified herpes and HIV have both been used as experimental cancer treatments.

Edit: It appears they made a variety of in-vitro tests during their peak operating period. For diseases, pregnancy, drugs, etc. So probably more about "criminally sloppy lab" than any more movie-worthy motive.

An old wayback grab of their product page: https://web.archive.org/web/20190731163304/http://universal-...

andrewstuart 2 years ago |

All the transmissibility of herpes with the damage of HIV.

Of course, of course.

Totally safe of course. Zero chance of lab escape. I do hear there are wet markets nearby though…..

upsidesinclude 2 years ago |

This should be really bigger news.

Seperate news reports include claims that the company was "developing COVID19 tests" among other things. This could very well have been funded through pandemic relief grants.

The owners of the building claim no knowledge of the goings on there.

Clearly they were engaged in some nefarious work with extremely minimal safety protocol.

rolandog 2 years ago |

To quote Steve Gibson: "What could possibly go wrong?"

farkanoid 2 years ago | |

Haven't seen that name in a while! I have fond memories of both Spinrite and ShieldsUp

rolandog 2 years ago | | |

I can sense you're a sage from the online realms where squirrels with prodigious love nuggets were revered.

whimsicalism 2 years ago |

Does anyone have reporting from a higher quality source?

DANmode 2 years ago | |

Previously on HN: CDC detects coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis and herpes at unlicensed California lab https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36921530 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officials-believe-fresn...

tinus_hn 2 years ago | | |

There the story is being put down because it kind of sounds like the lab leak theory so obviously it can’t be true. The cognitive dissonance is strong.

seatac76 2 years ago |

This is the stuff of horror movies, so much can go wrong. How are they even able to acquire such material without some oversight?

jbirer 2 years ago |

Don't forget that it also contained modified SARS virus.