INVESTIGATION: NIH agency looking to keep funding Colombian monkey research lab shut-down by government
Colombian authorities shut down the decrepit Colombian monkey research lab known as FUCEP following the emergence of extensive evidence of animal abuse, neglect, and potential fraud. Nevertheless, the NIH agency has been advising the lab on how to continue to receive U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.
CHRISTIAN K. CARUZO: Documents obtained by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) indicate that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) appears to have advised a decrepit monkey laboratory in Colombia on how to potentially continue to receive U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.
As exclusively reported by Breitbart News in February, Colombian authorities shut down the Colombian research laboratory known as Fundación Centro de Primates (FUCEP) following the emergence of extensive evidence of animal abuse, neglect, and potential fraud obtained as a result of an 18-month PETA investigation. FUCEP had received more than $17 million in NIH contracts across 58 grants since 2003 to allegedly conduct research on monkeys to produce a malaria vaccine.
PETA’s investigation determined that the laboratory, run by husband-and-wife team Sócrates Herrera Valencia and Myriam Arévalo Ramírez, subjected the animals to cruel conditions. The monkeys, which had been deliberately infected with the malaria parasite, had their spleens surgically removed and some were left to die from infected wounds. Colombian authorities seized all of the animals. Auditors found irregularities in the organization’s books and the lack of appropriate permits to conduct research, which may lead to criminal charges…
Although the laboratory was shut down in January, documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services addressing Herrera dated March 9 and May 4, 2023, shared by PETA with Breitbart News, appear to indicate that the NIH was open to assisting CSRC in continuing the research — and continuing to receive funding. The letters allude to the fact that FUCEP did not report “in a timely manner” that the laboratory’s activities had been suspended and that it had been conducting research without the renewal of the corresponding licenses…
In the March 9 letter, NIH requested confirmation that the CSRC was still continuing its research on non-human primates… In the May letter, NIH requested a “clear and thorough timeline to include notifications to NIAID [the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an NIH institute] specific to activities associated with the January 16, 2023 suspension,” as the researchers did not appear to have notified NIH about the police seizure or shutdown of the laboratory…
A May 4 letter also states that during the January 4 meeting, NIAID had inquired to researchers about PETA’s investigation — originally published on PETA’s website on January 1 — as well as the inspection carried out by the relevant Colombian authorities, and the irregularities in CSRC’s organizational structure… NIH also requested verification that the laboratory was in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies of local jurisdictions — a requirement to be in compliance with the terms and conditions of the grant…
Despite these questions, presented in a tone suggesting NIH’s patience had been exhausted, the federal agency appeared open to continuing to fund the CSRC if irregularities were sufficiently resolved. NIH requested a “revised long-term research plan,” mentioning a proposal allegedly presented by the Colombian researchers that involved moving the project to other “collaborative centers” in either Panama, Peru, or Brazil, as “it does not seem possible that animal studies (at least the non-human primate studies) will be resumed soon” at CSRC’s facility in Colombia… According to the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), the Caucaseco Scientific Research Center is still listed as an institution with a Public Health Service (PHS) Approved Animal Welfare Assurance…
On May 19, Colombia’s Valle del Cauca Autonomous Regional Corporation (CVC) organization — tasked with administration and protection of environmental resources of the Valle de Cauca region — presented a report and filed formal charges against the Caucaseco Scientific Research Center for lacking the proper permits to conduct its experiments on monkeys, causing “harm to wildlife,” and for other violations that were determined during the inspection and shut down of the laboratory. The National Institutes of Health has not responded to a request for comment from Breitbart News at press time. SOURCE…
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