Fresno County Board of Supervisors pass illegal medical lab ordinance

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Several City leaders gathered after the Fresno County Board of Supervisors met to approve a new ordinance to regulate laboratories.

This new ordinance comes after Reedley City Officials found the private company Prestige Biotech and Universal Meditech Inc. had unauthorized biological agents, samples of bodily fluid, infectious diseases, COVID and pregnancy tests and roughly 1,000 mice at its facility without permits or permissions.

"As we continued to pull the layers off the onion and we continued to talk to experts, we recognized, in fact, there was an issue. And we battled to make sure people saw it," said Reedley City Manager, Nicole Zieba.

Clinical labs that run tests funded by Medicare or Medicaid fall under federal regulations called "CLIA." But there's a loophole -- privately funded labs aren't subject to those regulations.

This new ordinance would allow the Public Health Department to review privately funded laboratories annually, including those in unincorporated cities within Fresno County.

Although county leaders believe this is a step in the right direction, they say more needs to be done.

"To really ensure the security of this nation, we really need to have some federal regulation enacted that really addresses privately funded research laboratories," said Assistant Fresno County Public Health Director, Joe Prado.

Prado said drafting the ordinance took several weeks. During that time, they found no records of a privately funded lab in Fresno County that would be subject to this regulation.

County leaders said word of the ordinance has made its way to the White House, but they have yet to hear more from lawmakers in Washington.

On January 9, this ordinance will return for final approval from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

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