Young Not Stupid: LA County Sheriff Reveals Truth About COVID Testing Company, Then Takes a Major Stand
The following is an installment in a weekly series of commentary articles by Cameron Arcand, host of the Young Not Stupid interview series and a contributor to The Western Journal.
While it seems that few are willing to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party and the companies that enable it, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, of all people, is taking a stand.
Villanueva sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Supervisors on Monday announcing that his department will no longer cooperate with Fulgent Genetic, a company that does COVID-19 testing, because it reportedly provides data to the Chinese government.
The sheriff said that the “DNA data obtained is not guaranteed to be safe and secure from foreign governments.”
NEW: The L.A. County Sheriff has notified L.A. County that LASD will not work w/ a genetics firm the County hired for mandatory COVID-19 testing/registration of County employees after he received a recent briefing from the FBI warning him about the firm’s links to China. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/WHtFcEZlPI
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 30, 2021
He then cited a briefing he attended on Friday with the FBI, which confirmed that the data would “likely be shared with the Republic of China.”
The county released a statement to the public about Fulgent’s possible ties to the U.S. adversary.
“If a credible threat is confirmed, or if the federal government takes any steps to rescind its [Food and Drug Administration] certification, we will take immediate action to ensure no employee data is misused,” the county said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin pointed out that Fulgent states in a disclaimer that it may “store, process and transmit personal information in locations around the world” and that all Los Angeles County employees are required to give their information to the company.
Over the last several weeks, I’ve been contacted by multiple L.A. County employees who are furious about Fulgent Genetic’s disclaimer about sharing their medical information outside the United States. All 100,000+ L.A. County employees mandated to register with Fulgent. pic.twitter.com/htqFTE9VXJ
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 30, 2021
Villanueva could have easily swept this issue under the rug in order to keep his employees and the public blissfully unaware, but instead he did the right thing. If there is any hint of concern that American data could be accessed by China, it needs to be addressed immediately.
Although Villanueva is only a local official, he is one of the few elected leaders willing to take on the communist nation with an iron fist.
The Democrat has defied members of his party on coronavirus-related issues numerous times throughout the pandemic.
Most recently, he railed against vaccine mandates for public employees as he faced losing members of his department over the controversial demand.
“It’s actually disrupting our ability to provide public safety services to Los Angeles County,” he said on Nov. 2, according to KABC-TV.
Villanueva should be applauded for his work in Los Angeles, as he has consistently stood for common sense in a sea of leftism.
He should consider a run for mayor or statewide office in order to bring rational, principled leadership back to the Golden State.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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