In 2015, “a scientist from the Institut Pasteur in Korea smuggled, on board a Seoul-Paris flight, three sample tubes of Seas Coronavirus, a potentially fatal virus transmitted by camels “ do we learn in Parisian columns. Hidden in a small blue box of cosmetic products, the samples were then stored on a shelf at the Institut Pasteur without any health precautions.
Viruses were inactivated
“The samples which arrived had undergone an inactivation treatment and therefore presented no risk of contamination” says Christian Bréchot, the director general of the institute. But this line of defense did not satisfy the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) which stresses that this clandestine arrival of viruses did not allow the implementation of the health measures provided for by the Public Health Code.
It is a leak in the Korean press which would have allowed, a year after the facts, to bring to light the story. The Institut Pasteur is therefore currently the subject of a judicial inquiry. Failure to report an incident involving an MOT (microorganisms and toxins) is punishable by a fine of 350,000 euros and five years’ imprisonment.
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