Last year, a special House of Representatives committee looked into how a nondescript building in Reedley became a laboratory full of dangerous pathogens, operated by a man with ties to communist China and on the run from Canadian officials.
The committee’s report blamed failures of key federal agencies to properly respond to Reedley and Fresno County officials who asked how they should deal with the lab. The select committee also faulted gaps in current laws that allowed the biolab to operate nearly out of sight in the first place. If it had not been for the sharp eye and questioning mind of a Reedley code enforcement officer who discovered a hose curiously sticking out of a wall, the lab might still be working.
However, the man allegedly in charge of the lab — Jia Bei Zhu — was arrested in October in Reedley on federal charges of manufacturing and distributing illegal COVID-19 test kits and lying to federal investigators. He remains in custody in the Fresno County Jail.
The Bee Editorial Board in November encouraged federal legislators to toughen up the laws so such hazardous labs could not occur anywhere else. Now Fresno Democratic Rep. Jim Costa is aiming to do just that with a bill he has introduced.