- In mid-December 2022, an illegal Chinese medical lab was discovered in Reedley, California, in a dilapidated warehouse. The company, Universal Meditech Inc. — which was operating without a state license or other required permits — was manufacturing a wide variety of test kits, including pregnancy tests, ovulation tests, COVID-19 test kits and various drug tests
- The lab was found to be improperly storing at least 20 infectious agents, including E. coli, coronavirus, malaria, hepatitis B and C, dengue, chlamydia, herpes, rubella and HIV
- Investigations were launched by local, state and federal authorities, all of whom concluded there was no criminal activity going on at the lab, nor any evidence that the lab posed a threat to public health or national security
- August 11, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about several of the tests produced in the Reedley lab. Universal Meditech has also issued a recall of tests that have already been sent to distributors, but not for tests that have already reached consumers
- While the investigation into the illicit lab began in late December 2022, the public wasn’t informed about its existence until July 2023. According to local officials, state and federal agencies told them to keep quiet
In mid-December 2022, Jesalyn Harper, a code enforcement officer for the city of Reedley, California, responded to a seemingly routine complaint about parked cars outside a run-down decades-old warehouse.
She got suspicious when she discovered a garden hose protruding through a rear wall, and a foul odor coming from a ventilation fan.
Inside, she was met by three Chinese women wearing lab coats, plastic gloves and surgical masks. The company, Universal Meditech Inc. — which was operating without a state license or other required permits — was reportedly manufacturing a wide variety of test kits, including pregnancy tests, ovulation tests, COVID-19 test kits and various drug tests.1,2 The company distributed the tests under the name Prestige Biotech Inc.
As reported by ABC News,3 when Harper conducted an impromptu inspection of the building, she found “dozens of refrigerators and ultralow-temperature freezers hooked to illegal wiring; vials of blood and jars of urine in shelves and plastic containers; and about 1,000 white lab mice being kept in crowded, soiled containers.”
Many of the mice were dead in their cages; others were in distress.4 The lab was later found to also be improperly storing at least 20 infectious agents, including E. coli, coronavirus, malaria, hepatitis B and C, dengue, chlamydia, herpes, rubella and HIV.5,6,7
In broken English, the women told Harper the owner resided in China, and gave her a phone number and email address. Alarmed by what she’d found, Harper contacted Fresno County health officials and the FBI.
Investigators Claim There Was No Threat…