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The government will designate Japan's first laboratory to handle deadly pathogens like the Ebola virus for research as soon as next month, sources close to the matter said.
The facility, set up by Nagasaki University in southwestern Japan, has cleared requirements to be activated to the most stringent biosafety standards on a four-level scale, the sources said.
The country's sole lab with biosafety level 4 is at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases' Murayama branch in western Tokyo. But its role has been limited to tests, such as determining whether someone is infected with a highly contagious pathogen, under an agreement with the local government.
Nagasaki University in June submitted documents for the health ministry to begin screening of the facility, which was completed in 2021 on the university's campus at a time when the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the need to study infectious diseases to develop treatments and vaccines.
The ministry will collect public feedback on the facility until Dec. 14 and designate it as a BSL-4 research facility by revising a relevant government ordinance possibly within the year, the sources said.
A BSL-4 facility handles the most hazardous agents such as the Ebola and Lassa viruses and takes measures to contain the pathogens based on World Health Organization guidelines. There are over 60 such facilities worldwide.
© KYODO
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sakurasuki
One mistake from that lab can't be fixed with a bow, it can be really fatal. Hope they know about that.
Yrral
Pie in the sky idea
Meiyouwenti
Ebola is a disease indigenous to Africa and there have been no cases of the deadly disease in Japan so far. What’s the point of setting up such a lab on university campus located in a densely populated area of Nagasaki?
Jay
So now they want to designate a lab to study deadly viruses like Ebola? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Perhaps instead of pouring more resources into these so-called 'research facilities,' they should first demand transparency about the true origins of another certain virus - also a lab.
Big pharmaceutical corporations and the globalist elites don’t want us asking questions about their gain-of-function experiments because they profit massively off the chaos they create. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that these labs are breeding grounds for disasters waiting to happen.
Enough is enough - stop playing God with deadly viruses and start holding those responsible accountable!
FizzBit
Japan wants/needs their own BSL-4 lab. China/the world can no longer be trusted. Ebola is just code word for deadly pathogens research.
dbsaiya
Doesn't make sense in earthquake prone Japan. What was the reason for Nagasaki U wanting to set up a lab like this? Just another brand for their image?
FizzBit
My mistake this would be japans second BSL-4 lab
OssanAmerica
Not sure why you're blaming Japan.
It's China that still refuses to come clean with the Wuhan Institute if Virology.
virusrex
You mean the people that work on BSL4 pathogens for a living knowing about them and their risks? the whole idea of a facility is to have less risk from there than from a natural introduction (which by itself it is extremely rare).
The article is clear that the facility is already constructed and operates, the development is that now the people are allowed to work on the pathogens it was designed for.
Study and development of measures that can be used to prevent and control the disease when it inevitably enters the country (as long as it is not eradicated), having this facility can mean any suspected patient can be confirmed and isolated in a matter of hours instead of days, and people professionally prepared for these outbreaks deal with any contacts and ways of transmission safely instead of having people without actual experience fumbling for days to know what to do and getting the equipment and consumables necessary to do the work safely.
Conspiracy theories already debunked are no reason to stop preventive measures that help against deadly outbreaks, if you want to believe disinformation that is on you, but pretending those debunked ideas are reason enough to oppose something that will lower the risk for the country is completely invalid. The scientific consensus of the world is clear, the evidence proves covid was introduced naturally the same as every other infection that affects humans, and there is no evidence of any artificial manipulation, including things that would be absolutely necessary to find.
That is not a factor, BSL4 (and BSL3 and 2 laboratories) are made so dangerous pathogens can be worked on and keep viable in a safe way, a natural disaster destroying completely the facility only would make every sample (and equipment, etc.) to be lost but it would not mean that the pathogens would suddenly grow wings and escape from broken windows to infect people. Any pet shop that deals with exotic animals would be a much more realistic source.
The NIID have had another BSL-4 lab in Tokyo from decades ago, but it has not been used for pathogens like Ebola, so the article is still technically correct.
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/ja/disclosure/murayama-c/9193-2019-11-06.html