An illicit, Chinese-owned lab fueled conspiracy theories. But officials say it posed no danger

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The discovery of an illegal medical lab in central California by a code enforcement officer has unleashed an uproar in a rural community and fed anti-Chinese rumors online. In December, the officer in Reedley stumbled upon what she described as a shoddy private lab that made tests for pregnancy and the virus that causes COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated but found it did not pose a public danger, though it did lack city and state permits. News of the case unleashed an online firestorm of conspiracy theories and misinformation about China purportedly trying to engineer biological weapons in rural America. The CDC says it has found no evidence of that.