<a href="https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/over-100-bsl-4-bioweapons-labs-now">Authored by Jon Fleetwood via Substack,</a>

Over the past few years, the world has entered a new era of high-containment biological research—marked by a dramatic expansion of laboratories capable of working with the most lethal viruses known to man.

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These include facilities built to the highest biosafety standard, Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4), and they carry not only the broken promise of defending us from pandemics but also the danger of enabling bioweapons creation, whether by accident or deliberate misuse.

Strikingly, a May 2025 <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-025-02492-3?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Journal of Public Health</a> study found that more than 90% of the countries with at least one BSL-3 laboratory lacked oversight or regulation of dual-use research of concern.

Dual-use research refers to experiments that can be used for good (e.g., alleged drug development) but also for harm (e.g., creating a bioweapon).

The Journal of Public Health study aimed to investigate the worldwide distribution of BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories.

Alarmingly, it found that:

<blockquote>
“No international organization has a comprehensive register or global oversight of Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3)/BSL-4 laboratories. Different countries use different standards for designation of pathogens and laboratories.”

“More than 90% of the countries with at least one BSL3 laboratory have no oversight/regulations regarding dual-use research.”
</blockquote>

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BSL-3 laboratories work with serious or potentially lethal pathogens that can be transmitted through the air and usually have available treatments or preventions, such as tuberculosis, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID), and avian influenza “bird flu.”

BSL-4 laboratories handle the most dangerous and exotic pathogens that often cause fatal diseases with no available vaccines or treatments, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses.

Taken together, the proliferation of BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs around the world raises national security, informed consent, and conflict of interest concerns.

<ul><li>
	They raise national security concerns because accidental or intentional lab leaks put American lives at risk, clearly proven by the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/final-report-covid-select-concludes-2-year-investigation-issues-500-page-final-report-on-lessons-learned-and-the-path-forward/">Congress</a>, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/">White House</a>, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-origin-china-lab-leak-807b7b0a">Department of Energy</a>, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/politics/wray-fbi-covid-origins-lab-china/index.html">FBI</a>, and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-cia-trump-china-pandemic-lab-leak-9ab7e84c626fed68ca13c8d2e453dde1">CIA</a> have confirmed that the COVID pandemic was likely the result of lab-engineered pathogen manipulation.
	</li>
	<li>
	They raise informed consent concerns because citizens are often unknowingly and/or unwillingly exposed to risks from nearby labs or experimental pathogen releases conducted without public awareness or approval.
	</li>
	<li>
	They raise conflict of interest concerns because many of these labs are funded by entities that profit from the development of pathogens and drugs that target those pathogens, meaning they benefit financially from an accidental or intentional lab leak-caused outbreak.
	</li>
</ul>Even former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci—who dismissed claims that a lab leak caused the COVID pandemic—has <a href="https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/fauci-confirmed-in-2016-most-probable">admitted in print</a> that the greatest biosecurity threat regarding dangerous pathogen research is laboratory “insiders who have direct access” to the pathogens or “outsiders who collaborate with or subvert insiders.”

Given the mounting evidence of accidents, secrecy, and conflicts of interest, the continued operation of these bioweapons labs poses an unacceptable threat to humanity’s safety.

The only responsible course is to shut down all BSL-4 facilities worldwide and impose a global moratorium on high-risk pathogen experiments in order to prevent further catastrophe.

But governments all over the world are doing the opposite.

The Journal of Public Health authors warn in their conclusion:

<blockquote>
“The number of BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories is continually increasing, and many do not have adequate biosafety guidelines.”
</blockquote>

Dr. Richard Bartlett warned that COVID-19 resulted from dangerous lab experiments and urged a global ban on bioweapons, calling the unchecked spread of BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs—where such pathogens are made—an existential threat to humanity.

<blockquote>
“President Trump recently <a href="https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/trump-asks-world-to-end-bioweapons?utm_source=publication-search">spoke</a> to the UN General Assembly, stating that COVID was the result of risky laboratory experiments and that the United States would lead an effort to ban bioweapons,” he told this website.

“The White House, U.S. Congress, FBI, CIA, German intelligence, and the Department of Energy’s intelligence division have all acknowledged that COVID ‘may have’ originated from a lab. Bioweapons are developed in BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories. Yet no one has been held accountable for the worst catastrophe in U.S. history. The continued proliferation of BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs worldwide shows that we have learned nothing from this disaster. Bioweapons, like nuclear weapons, are weapons of mass destruction—and the stockpiling of pathogens such as avian flu represents an existential threat to humanity.”
</blockquote>

<h2>Worldwide Surge of Bioweapons Labs</h2>

Before the COVID pandemic, only a modest number of BSL-4 labs existed worldwide.

Mapping studies published earlier this year show there are now more than 100 operational BSL-4 labs across 34 countries.

Researchers identified a staggering 3,515 BSL-3 laboratories in 149 countries.

They write in their Journal of Public Health publication:

<blockquote>
“We identified 3,515 BSL-3 laboratories in 149 countries, with nearly half (47.1%) in the United States. Details on geolocations and pathogens they handled are publicly available for 955 of these labs. The United Kingdom had the highest rate (N = 9) of BSL-3 labs per million population, while Bangladesh had the lowest. High-income countries house 82% of these laboratories. There are 110 BSL-4 laboratories in 34 middle- and high-income countries, and 46% are in the WHO’s Europe region. Notably, from the health security index perspective, 91.6% of countries with at least one BSL-3 laboratory lack guidelines for dual-use research of concern.”
</blockquote>

<h2>India’s Ambitious Expansion</h2>

In India, the Defence Research &amp; Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/indias-drdo-inaugurates-groundbreaking-bsl-4-laboratory-to-enhance-biosecurity/articleshow/115191163.cms">inaugurated</a> a BSL-4 facility in November 2024, aimed at experimenting with Nipah virus and Crimean‑Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.

Additional high-containment labs are planned, potentially creating one of Asia’s largest BSL-4 networks.

<h2>Russia’s ‘Sanitary Shield’ &amp; Maximum-Containment Ambitions</h2>

Russia’s flagship BSL-4 facility at State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR (Koltsovo) is already a key part of its bio-infrastructure.

Under the national “Sanitary Shield” program, Moscow <a href="https://tass.com/science/1327029">announced</a> plans for up to 15 new “maximum-biosafety level” labs by 2024.

While not all details are public, satellite imagery and defense analysis suggest that several facilities—such as the site at Sergiev Posad‑6 near Moscow—<a href="https://orbitaltoday.com/2024/11/04/satellite-images-spark-concerns-over-russian-biological-capabilities/">exhibit</a> features consistent with BSL-4 design.

<h2>United States: Updating an Already Extensive Network</h2>

The United States remains home to one of the largest portfolios of BSL-4 labs globally, with around <a href="https://www.domesticpreparedness.com/articles/biosafety-laboratory-issues-and-failures/">14 active</a> facilities as of 2023.

These include institutions such as the Galveston National Laboratory, Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and others managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Construction is <a href="https://constructiondigest.news/DXC/article/FBD53264-mccarthy-to-build-most-advanced-high-containment-laboratory-in-the-nation-for-the-cdc">underway</a> for a new state-of-the-art BSL-4 laboratory at the CDC’s Roybal campus in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of the CDC’s 2025 Masterplan.

The new facility, called the High Containment Continuity Laboratory (HCCL), will be a 160,000-square-foot, multi-story research building designed to accommodate approximately 80 laboratory researchers.

<h2>Latin America’s Entry: Brazil &amp; Argentina</h2>

In Brazil, the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) broke ground in 2024 on a <a href="https://cnpem.br/en/brasil-tera-nb4-conectado-sincrotron-mundo/">proposed</a> BSL-4 complex dubbed “Orion,” to be integrated with the country’s Sirius synchrotron light-source.

If realized, it would become South America’s most advanced high-containment biology facility.

In Argentina this month, the Malbrán Institute in Buenos Aires <a href="https://derechadiario.com.ar/us/argentina/argentina-inaugurated-buenos-aires-bsl-4-laboratory-latin-america">opened</a> the country’s first BSL-4 lab.

As an international hub for migratory birds traveling between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Argentina’s position makes it a strategic focal point in the global network of avian flu surveillance and experimentation—placing it squarely within the larger international orchestration of a potential bird flu pandemic currently underway.

<h2>Bottom Line</h2>

The global explosion of BSL-4 laboratories represents not progress, but peril.

What governments call “pandemic preparedness” has become an uncontrolled arms race in bioweapon capability, with more than 110 BSL-4 labs now operating across 34 countries—most in nations that have no enforceable oversight of dual-use research.

The same systems meant to prevent pandemics are engineering the conditions that could ignite the next one.

With over 90% of countries hosting BSL-3 labs lacking any regulation of dual-use research, humanity is effectively constructing a worldwide bioweapons network under the banner of science.

These facilities have already demonstrated fatal lapses, secrecy, and conflicts of interest—and the agencies that fund them often profit from both the creation of pathogens and the “solutions” they sell afterward.

Given this reality, nothing short of a global moratorium on high-risk pathogen research and the immediate closure of all BSL-4 laboratories can protect public safety.

The question is no longer if another lab-engineered outbreak will occur, but how many more chances we are willing to give it to happen again.

Thousands of BSL-3 labs worldwide now handle pathogens like bird flu, SARS-CoV-2, and tuberculosis... with almost "no oversight," biosecurity experts confirm...


Over 100 'BSL-4' Bioweapons Labs Now Operate Worldwide, With More Under Construction

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