Investigation into the Reedley Biolab/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
In December 2022, Code Enforcement Officer Jesalyn Harper noticed a green garden hose sticking out of a hole drilled into the side of a warehouse located at 850 I Street, right in the heart of Reedley, California. Reedley is a rural town of 26,000 residents. The hose was a clear violation of Reedley's building code in a building known to be vacant for over a decade. She walked around to the front of the warehouse and knocked on the door. Officer Harper showed her badge and asked to enter the site. Upon entering, Officer Harper found a vast warehouse filled with laboratory equipment, manufacturing devices, and what appeared to be medical-grade freezers. She observed several individuals who identified themselves as PRC nationals wearing white lab coats, glasses, masks, and latex gloves working inside. As she stepped further into the warehouse, she noticed that some of the freezers and containment units had glass doors. Inside, she saw thousands of vials of biological substances. Many were unlabeled. Others were labeled in a foreign language later identified as Mandarin. Others still were labeled in some kind of code. A few of the vials, however, had labels in English. Some of these labels listed substances that Officer Harper at the time did not recognize. She did, however, recognize the names listed on several labels, such as HIV.
Officer Harper continued down the hallways of freezers and laboratory equipment to find the source of the green garden hose. What she found was a makeshift storage room emanating a foul odor. Inside were approximately 1,000 laboratory mice in crowded conditions. Officer Harper would later learn that these were transgenic mice, specifically genetically modified and bred to simulate the human immune system for the purpose of laboratory experimentation. On future inspections, she also saw that the mice were unwell and abused, with fraying hair, rashes, and distended bellies.
Officer Harper knew that this warehouse was not licensed or permitted for any laboratory functions. She also knew that there were over a half-dozen other building code violations that she spotted in her brief walk inside the building. What Officer Harper did not know, however, was that her investigation of this green garden hose would uncover a laboratory filled with thousands of vials containing pathogens and other unknown biological and chemical substances.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the laboratory was operated by a wanted fugitive from Canada, who is a PRC citizen. The said fugitive had previously stolen millions of dollars of intellectual property from American companies and was part of an ongoing transnational criminal enterprise with ties to the PRC for which he was ultimately charged in federal court.
More importantly, the investigation stemming from Officer Harper's actions revealed systemic and profound risks in American biosecurity that merit Congressional attention.