WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens in biolabs to prevent disease spread
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WHO says it advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens in its biological labs to avoid potential spills amid the crisis.
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The WHO would not provide specifics about the kinds of pathogens housed in Ukraine's laboratories
The WHO said it advised Ukraine to dispose of the high-threat pathogens that were stored in the country's laboratories, out of fear of "potential spills" that would spread diseases, Reuters revealed.
The crisis in Ukraine has raised the risk of the escape of threatening pathogens if the facilities are damaged.
Biological laboratories can be used to house pathogens for research on a number of different subjects, including research on countering dangerous diseases that would affect animals and humans. These biolabs, according to Reuters, have received support from the United States, the EU, and the WHO. The latter has cooperated with Ukraine's biolabs for years.
"As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills," the WHO, a United Nations agency, said.
However, when questioned on when these recommendations were made, or the kinds of pathogens housed in Ukraine's laboratories, the WHO did not answer, nor did it answer questions on whether Ukraine followed the organization's recommendations. Ukrainian officials in Kiev or at the Embassy in Washington also did not respond to requests to comment.
Russia: US evacuated most materials, data from biolabs in Ukraine
Pentagon-funded bio-laboratories on the territory of Ukraine developed, among other things, projects for the spread of biological weapons to the territory of Russia via bats, Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical, and biological defense of the Russian Armed Forces, revealed Thursday.
According to Kirillov, in some projects, "bats are considered as carriers of potential biological weapons," adding that research was being conducted near Russian borders, namely in South Caucasus and the Black Sea coast.
In the same context, Kirillov said the example of the UP-4 project, "which was implemented with the participation of laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa and was designed for the period up to 2020."
