The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party led by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) issued its first subpoena in the committee’s ongoing investigation into the clandestine Chinese laboratory that local authorities uncovered in Reedley, California.
“It is deeply disturbing that a Chinese company set up a clandestine facility in small-town America that contained, per the CDC, ‘at least 20 potentially infectious agents’ like HIV and the deadliest known form of malaria. We are grateful to the city of Reedley for their cooperation,” Gallagher said in a statement.
The lab reportedly was discovered by a local code enforcement officer, who contacted county health officials and the FBI. As The Associated Press reported, in March, investigators found infectious agents in the refrigerators, including E. coli, coronavirus, malaria, hepatitis B and C, dengue, chlamydia, human herpes, rubella, and HIV.
But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the news outlet there was no sign that the lab was illegally in possession of the materials or had select agents or toxins that could be used as bioweapons.
“CDC has taken no further action in this matter,” the agency said in an email to The Associated Press, referring further questions to county and state officials.
Concerns remain amid evidence pointing to a lab leak in Wuhan, China, as the origin of a COVID pandemic that has reportedly killed (or had some responsibility in the deaths of) more than 1.1 million people in the United States, and nearly 7 million people worldwide.
What the August 9 AP story — headlined An illicit-Chinese-owned lab fueled conspiracy theories. But officials say it posed no danger — shrugged off is the fact that the lab possessed the deadliest form of malaria among its collection. All of the infectious agents were stored in a warehouse across from a residential neighborhood in the rural California community of about 25,000 people, within a short walk from city hall, the high school, and water supply.
Fresno County Department of Public Health agents spent some 75 days clearing hazardous materials and euthanizing hundreds of lab mice believed to have been in distress from the illicit lab.
The select committee’s friendly subpoena” uncovered thousands of pages of documents, hundreds of photographs, and hours of video, according to Gallagher.
Ultimately, the committee established that the medical device companies behind the clandestine facility, Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc., are tied to Chinese companies and Chinese nationals. It turns out that the organizations and their officers have been implicated in major fraud investigations and other misconduct in multiple countries.
On August 11, two days after the publication of the AP story dogging “conspiracy theorists,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to consumers not to use several diagnostic test kits manufactured by Meditech, Inc. The tests, including pregnancy, urinalysis, breast milk alcohol strips, and COVID tests, were distributed by Prestige Biotech, among others.
“UMI has notified the FDA that it has stopped all operations and is no longer providing support for its tests. The FDA is not able to confirm the performance of UMI’s tests, raising concerns that the tests may not be safe and effective,” the FDA stated in the warning.
According to multiple reports, the company appears to have moved operations to the Reedley warehouse location without permission from the city.
“The company had operated in Fresno since 2018 until a fire in 2020 and a reported eviction from its location at the North Pointe Business Park in 2022 began to imperil the company,” KVPR in Fresno reported last month.
A lawsuit in Fresno Superior Court alleges the company and several affiliated individuals and businesses committed fraud and breach of contract “through direct oral misrepresentations, speaking half-truths, and concealing material facts,” according to KVPR.
“In a separate judgment from January this year in the United States Eastern District Court in Louisiana, Universal Meditech was ordered to pay around $2.2 million to Sensiva health, LLC, and Cormeum Lab Services, LLC, in owed money dating back to 2021,” the news outlet reported. “The original complaint stemmed from compliance issues discovered by Sensiva on ‘lateral flow devices,’ similar to those used to test COVID-19 or other infections.
Meanwhile, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’s investigation goes on.
“The American people deserve answers, and we will get to the bottom of this issue to ensure our adversaries are not endangering the safety of Americans on our soil,” Gallagher said.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Mike Gallagher” by Mike Gallagher.
