Dangerous laboratory very close to Serbia; It will soon reach a P-4 biosecurity level

Dangerous laboratory very close to Serbia; It will soon reach a P-4 biosecurity level

Viruses such as Zika, HIV, and Covid-19 are being researched in that park. It is a laboratory that is classified as a P-3 level of biological security and will soon include a P-4 level laboratory, like the one in Wuhan. This caused concern and reaction from the media and citizens in Italy, Sputnik reports.

Employees of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) laboratory, which is not easy to enter, have to follow very strict procedures every time before starting work, which includes wearing protective suits like during a pandemic in order to protected from exposure to dangerous viruses with which they work every day, writes Corriere della Sera.

Because they work with viruses and infected cells, nothing is allowed to enter and leave the laboratory, where the air is filtered while all medical waste is thrown into special containers, which, thanks to very high temperatures, prevent any infectious agent from getting out.

"Everything is disposable. We who work with these viruses must be very precise but also work slowly, and we should always be in a group. Even when we are alone in the room, the procedure requires that we are always monitored by a controller through a monitor or a glass door," Alessandro Marcello told Corriere della Sera.

The Italian government granted full immunity to the center as well as to all the scientists working there. Every year, 10 million euros are invested, as well as free use of 8,000 square meters, for uninterrupted work. That center includes several laboratories in the world and is a strategic partner of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.

What the ICGEB stands for?

The International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnologies (ICGEB), whose headquarters are in Trieste, Italy, was created in 1983 as a project of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to become an autonomous international organization in 1994 that unites 65 member states in cooperation with a large number of private organizations such as the "Bill and Melinda Gates" Foundation, New England BioLabs Inc, which works on research in the biotechnology field, but also "GeneTona", a leading company in the field of genetic therapy.

The ICGEB website states: "Research programs include scientific projects such as genetic response, DNA replication as well as its 'repair', RNA elaboration, we conduct research on human viruses such as HIV, HPV and rotavirus, molecular immunology, neurobiology, molecular genetics, experimental hematology, but also human gene therapy. The research programs of each group are periodically evaluated during the visits of international researchers with specific competences in various fields, who give their opinion to the ICGEB Scientific Council. Our work is supported by many international agencies that finance us".

Immunity to the laboratory and its employees - a state within a state

In June 2022, an agreement between the Italian government and ICGEB was published in the Italian official gazette, where it is stated that the Italian state will take over the financing in the amount of 10 million euros per year. It is possible to read in the gazette that this center has full protection of the state and everyone who works there has jurisdictional immunity.

None of the government employees or anyone employed in the public administration in the territory of Italy may enter without the special approval of the director of the center, and all documentation is strictly confidential. The center is exempt from taxes, duties and customs clearance.

Article 12 states that all employees enjoy privileges and immunities even when they stop working in the laboratory. Their salary and income are not taxed, while the director and his entire family have privileges and immunity, exemptions and concessions as ambassadors and heads of missions, even though they are not Italian citizens and do not have a permanent residence in this country.

All employees in the laboratory are provided with a special identity card that confirms that they work for ICGEB, and on that basis they enjoy all the privileges and immunities.

According to Italian media, ICGEB represents a state within a state with a special status, so the Italian state cannot control and monitor research in the laboratory.

Risks and resistance from citizens

In the show Fuori dal coro, the Italian television channel Mediaset asks why the P-3 and P-4 laboratories, which are characteristic of Ukraine, are allowed to exist in Italy.

Moreover, in an interview with the president of the World Academy of Biomedical Technologies, Joseph Tritto, journalists discovered that when a laboratory becomes a P-4 category, it means that military activities aimed at attacks or defense with biological weapons are in question.

"The existence of the P-4 laboratory in our territory, which is very densely populated, is a very big risk for everyone, a risk that is impossible to control," Tritto said.

In the meantime, the citizens of Trieste and the city of Pesaro, organized into committees, are protesting because of those laboratories on Italian territory, which allegedly work to protect citizens from future pandemics, while the people think that they are producing biological weapons, RTS reported.