Posted on 03/11/2022 6:26:33 AM PST by tlozo
On the menu today: Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Why does it always come back to biological-research labs? No, Ukraine does not have a secret biological-weapons program — or at least there’s no proof of one. A biological-research facility and a biological-weapons-research facility are not the same thing — but even if Ukraine has no biological weapons, that doesn’t mean the stuff in the country’s various labs can’t be dangerous. And the U.S. — and the world — have good reasons to not want a bunch of hungry, young, poorly briefed Russian conscripts traipsing through biological-research labs with samples of who-knows-what in vials and petri dishes in the sample fridges. Meanwhile, the IAEA passes along more ominous reports from Chernobyl.
There are over 4,000 registered microbiological laboratories in Ukraine, but only 2 of them have a permit to work with microorganisms of the first pathogenic group, 402 laboratories have a permit to work with the microorganisms of the second pathogenic group, and all others are allowed to work only with microorganisms of the third and forth pathogenic groups. Here it is necessary to note that the classification of pathogenic organisms and therefore classification of the laboratories in Ukraine differs from the international one. It is inverted (i.e., in Ukraine “one” is the highest risk and “four” is the lowest risk) and also has some additional differences.
According to the available data, there are no laboratories in Ukraine that fulfill BSL-4 requirements. One of the laboratories that has a permit to work with the microorganisms of the first pathogenic group did, however, recently undergo an international audit as a BSL-3 laboratory and received a preliminary positive evaluation.
Even biosafety-level-two laboratories work with some nasty stuff — e.g., hepatitis, HIV, salmonella. Biosafety-level-three laboratories work with microbes that can cause serious or deadly diseases through inhalation — e.g., Covid-19, tuberculosis, yellow fever, SARS, West Nile, some strains of influenza. Even biosafety-level-two laboratories work with some nasty stuff — e.g., hepatitis, HIV, salmonella.
Biosafety-level-three laboratories work with microbes that can cause serious or deadly diseases through inhalation — e.g., Covid-19, tuberculosis, yellow fever, SARS, West Nile, some strains of influenza.
Biosafety-level-four laboratories work with the most dangerous pathogens that carry the highest risk of infecting lab personnel — e.g., Ebola, Nipah, Marburg. Biosafety-level-four laboratories work with the most dangerous pathogens that carry the highest risk of infecting lab personnel — e.g., Ebola, Nipah, Marburg.
Ukraine does not have a level-four lab today. Just as it did a decade ago, Ukraine has thousands of labs, but only a handful work with airborne, potentially deadly pathogens, and a few hundred work with “moderate-risk agents.” Yes, Ukraine has biological-research facilities. A “biological-research facility” is not the same as a biological-weapons-research facility. (Although it is worth noting that a lot of research into dangerous pathogens is dual-use; the more you know about how to fight dangerous viruses and bacteria, the more knowledge you could theoretically apply to weaponizing viruses and bacteria.) When state-owned Russian media such as TASS breathlessly echo a Russian official’s statement that “In Ukraine, a network of more than 30 biological laboratories was created,” they really want your mind to insert the word “weapons” in between “biological” and “laboratories.”
Any major university or major hospital/medical center is going to have a lab that, at minimum, will have samples that may include dangerous or contagious pathogens collected from patients, etc., separate from any labs doing medical research on these kinds of viruses and bacteria
Your doctors office meets bio safety level 1.
Posting it right after I post this.
Keep in mind that many pathogens are universal, take anthrax. Any country with industry that uses cows, sheep, etc.; must be studying that disease to have a handle on how to recognize it in the field and how to fight. If you depend upon foreigners to do that for you (e.g., sponsored by UN, EU, etc) you are also of the type that would outlaw your army and depend upon others to defend you in case your crazy neighbor decided to invade = suicidal, don’t live there.
Do not outsource vital industries. Ever.
“And Fauci has gone into hiding....”
I saw him yesterday hanging around the animal shelter. I think he was looking for Beagle hounds.
"This procedure applies to equipment located within a BSL-3 laboratory or equipment that affects a BSL-3 laboratory at UNC."
https://facilities.unc.edu/resources/staff/safety/policies/bsl3-notification-procedure/
That was so disgusting.. I had a couple beagles. Fun dog!!
Cui bono.
Follow the Money!
A good chance to blame Covid on Ukraine?
I don’t think Obama and the CIA necessarily shared info on at least 26 bio weapons labs that they established and thankfully Putin has taken out. Or at least most of them.
Thanks. Had to re read it. I was thinking one had the worse stuff in it.
This is not answering the real issues. Why are we studying these very harmful pathogens in places like Ukraine and China? There are bats in other places. There is anthrax in other places. Why is the US government so secretive about these labs? Why are they worried the Russians will get them? Why is the Pentagon and State Department the ones responding? Doesn’t that make them military labs?
The fact is that we have thousands of Universities. They do research. And yet these labs are all around the world in places that are beyond our sights and laws. Why?
We don’t trust the Russian government. But we also don’t trust the American government. Our news media is supposed to distrust our government. And yet they use the very fact that our government says something as proof that it is true. Are they really a free media anymore? or are they just propagandists? Tucker may not always be right. But he seems to have a point here.
The National Screw is still around?
Presumes a number of things including that you have an effective regulatory process so that you only work on stuff you are authorized and qualified to work on which requires rule of law. We are discovering we don't have rule of law here in the US. Why a sleezecorruptonefascistaucracy like Ukraine.
These “fact checking” outfits aren’t even very clever with their lies anymore.
Now.
Really good article that completely shreads the Russian disinformation campaign.
There is a DoD program called the Biological Threat Reduction Program ("BTRP"), which has been well-known, not hidden, and is public. You can google it to find a bunch of stuff going years back. Here's something from an article from around 2007 discussing how DoD was supporting a facility in Ukraine:
Under the agreement, CTR funds will for the first time flow directly to projects aimed at securing pathogen strains and sensitive biological knowledge within Ukraine. The United States also will work to improve Ukrainian capabilities to detect, diagnose, and treat outbreaks of infectious diseases, as well as determine whether outbreaks are natural or the result of bioterrorism.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2005-10/threat-reduction-program-extends-reach-ukrainian-biological-facilities
You can google the BTRP and see tons of articles about why it exists, and what it does. It's neither hidden nor secret, and came about in reaction to the 1992 admission by Boris Yeltsin that the Soviet Union, and even Russia, had carried on a massive offensive biological warfare program in direct violation of the 1972 treaty banning same. They had very large stockpiles of the stuff in various places.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-15-mn-859-story.html
So....the couple of labs in Ukraine that were set up to address this probably maintained small samples of some of that Soviet/Russian crap for research on how to detect and defend against it. That's what you do, and exactly why the 1972 treaty only banned research into offensive biological warfare - the development of new strains, methods of dispersal etc. It did not ban maintenance of programs designed to defend against it.
And those facilities weren't limited to Ukraine. We have them in the U.S. and elsewhere, but also maintained some in former Soviet Republics because it was safer to study the dangerous crap there rather than transporting it overseas.
So there is the full-circle brilliance of this Russian disinformation campaign. They are trying to eliminate our research into how to defend ourselves against the offensive use of biological weapons, while at the same time still very likely maintaining an offensive biological warfare capability of their own.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/is-russia-violating-the-biological-weapons-convention/
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