Lab Accreditation

China’s first high-level biosafety laboratory has been accredited and will be fully operational soon, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on February 24.

The certificate was issued by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment.

The lab in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, will be used to study Class 4 pathogens, the most virulent viruses that pose a high risk of aerosol transmission.

The lab will help China prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks and aid the research and development of antiviral drugs and vaccines, said Zhang Yaping, Vice President of CAS.

All the air from the lab will go through two advanced filters before being discharged. Solid and liquid waste will also be properly processed.

The lab has undergone a trial operation since it was completed in 2014. Some of the core research team have been trained in France and the United States. 80 percent in 2016 from previous peak years, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on February 26.

Liu Dongsheng, deputy head of the SFA, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a wildlife protection campaign. China will stop the commercial processing and sale of ivory by the end of this year. Last year, it imposed a three-year ban on ivory imports in an escalated fight against illegal trading in endangered wild animals and plants.

The number of illegal wildlife trade cases has been on the decline since last year, Liu said.

Meanwhile, the numbers of critically endangered species in China, including the giant panda, crested ibis, Yangtze alligator and Tibetan antelope, have been increasing steadily, he said.

China’s newly revised law on wild animal protection took effect at the start of this year.