6 ms·

CDC Finds 20 Infectious Agents in Unlicensed California Lab

62 points by webmaven 3y ago

mrguyorama 3y ago
They were probably trying to be the Uber of accidental biological disaster. Move fast and break things, especially the law.
- treeman79 3y ago
  I mean it’s not like we upended all of society over a lab leak recently…
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    possible lab leak.
    - treeman79 3y ago
      [flagged]
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  More like Umbrella Corp but you bought it on Wish.com... I wonder how common something like this is. They had disease samples on-site, and CRISPR made genetic modification really cheap. Scary.
- richbell 3y ago
  > Move fast and break things, especially the law. I prefer to say "innovating on the regulatory side". ;) https://youtu.be/Ysh9ILpvBpg?t=5m15s https://youtu.be/Ysh9ILpvBpg?t=5m15s
azalemeth 3y ago
One thing I think Europe as a whole gets right (including the UK) is the approach to animal experimentation: you need a "triple license" to do it, with the institution, the lab/scientific project and the scientist themselves personally all separately required to be up to scratch and examined in detail. You can't just buy 700 white lab mice without this -- it's a specific criminal offence -- and in most countries the implementation of the directive is in terms of permissive acts, i.e. unless everything is exactly right, you're committing a crime and are personally liable for it. I'm not saying it's perfect -- far from it -- but the separation of powers, the explicit independent cost-benefit exam done at the point of project licenses, and a tough and regular inspection framework do give me some confidence in what is unfortunately a necessary evil. This thing sounds both like a pathogen breeding facility and deeply, deeply unethical.
- phendrenad2 3y ago
  While there is something to the idea that making something that's illegal more illegal will help prevent it from happening, that isn't a silver bullet. So it's entirely possible that such things are happening in the UK also.
  - TheJoeMan 3y ago
    It’s much simpler, the companies set up an unregulated lab in Haiti. This is classic “just pushing crime elsewhere” not reducing it.
theogravity 3y ago
Wonder what happened to the occupants of the warehouse. The article doesn't mention if criminal action is being taken against them or not, or who the individuals were.
- ttyprintk 3y ago
  See the Ars Technica reporting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36914487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36914487
richard_rainbow 3y ago
Eggs are used to replicate viral material. Best examples are true vaccines. Remember the sudden rise of egg prices recently? Lasted almost 2 months. Before your knee jerk reaction to this which is truly speculation please consider the following wiki on limited hangouts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout Discernment is not effortless.

62 points by webmaven 3y ago

They were probably trying to be the Uber of accidental biological disaster. Move fast and break things, especially the law.

treeman79 3y ago
I mean it’s not like we upended all of society over a lab leak recently…
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  possible lab leak.
  - treeman79 3y ago
    [flagged]
thefurdrake 3y ago
More like Umbrella Corp but you bought it on Wish.com... I wonder how common something like this is. They had disease samples on-site, and CRISPR made genetic modification really cheap. Scary.
richbell 3y ago
> Move fast and break things, especially the law. I prefer to say "innovating on the regulatory side". ;) https://youtu.be/Ysh9ILpvBpg?t=5m15s https://youtu.be/Ysh9ILpvBpg?t=5m15s

azalemeth 3y ago

One thing I think Europe as a whole gets right (including the UK) is the approach to animal experimentation: you need a "triple license" to do it, with the institution, the lab/scientific project and the scientist themselves personally all separately required to be up to scratch and examined in detail. You can't just buy 700 white lab mice without this -- it's a specific criminal offence -- and in most countries the implementation of the directive is in terms of permissive acts, i.e. unless everything is exactly right, you're committing a crime and are personally liable for it. I'm not saying it's perfect -- far from it -- but the separation of powers, the explicit independent cost-benefit exam done at the point of project licenses, and a tough and regular inspection framework do give me some confidence in what is unfortunately a necessary evil. This thing sounds both like a pathogen breeding facility and deeply, deeply unethical.

phendrenad2 3y ago
While there is something to the idea that making something that's illegal more illegal will help prevent it from happening, that isn't a silver bullet. So it's entirely possible that such things are happening in the UK also.
- TheJoeMan 3y ago
  It’s much simpler, the companies set up an unregulated lab in Haiti. This is classic “just pushing crime elsewhere” not reducing it.

theogravity 3y ago

Wonder what happened to the occupants of the warehouse. The article doesn't mention if criminal action is being taken against them or not, or who the individuals were.

ttyprintk 3y ago
See the Ars Technica reporting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36914487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36914487

richard_rainbow 3y ago

Eggs are used to replicate viral material. Best examples are true vaccines. Remember the sudden rise of egg prices recently? Lasted almost 2 months. Before your knee jerk reaction to this which is truly speculation please consider the following wiki on limited hangouts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout Discernment is not effortless.