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STATEMENT
Prepared Statement Regarding Violations of Federal Law by the Southwest
Foundation for Biomedical Research
The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research is the facility
through which the Southwest National Primate Research Center is funded.
This facility houses over 5700 primates including spider monkeys,
tamarins, marmosets, chimpanzees, baboons, and macaque monkeys. This
facility was connected to approximately $54 million per year in research
projects for 2006. “Euthanasia means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by
a method that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death
without evidence of pain or distress…euthanasia of one baboon was not
accomplished as described above…it was not dead prior to the start of
the necropsy procedure.” This incident resulted in multiple citations of SWFBR by USDA/APHIS.
The Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee of SWFBR incurred
violations for not considering this incident a serious violation.
Additionally, the attending veterinarian of SWFBR was aware of this
incident and apparently did not even notify the Animal Care Committee of
the full nature of it. Also, the researcher in question did not consider
methods that would have been more effective than the administration of
the very minimum dose of euthanasia solution to the baboon. The
researcher was also cited for significant deviation from the approved
protocol. These violations of the Animal Welfare Act are both shocking and
severe. Imagine dissecting an animal and removing significant
tissue/organs while the animal, in this case a male baboon, was still
living. I have seldom seen such a clear example of negligence and
incompetence. Additionally, the attitude of the attending veterinarian
and the animal care committee at SWFBR can be qualified as nothing short
of a cover-up. The vet did not provide significant information to the
animal care committee, and the committee members, who were aware of this
incident, though several of them may apparently not have been aware of
it, did not even mention this situation in any of Animal Care Committee
annual reports as is required by USDA regulations. This incident would possibly be less worrisome if it were isolated.
However, this incident at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical
Research is the latest in a long series of criminal acts by the labs
which make up the National Primate Research Center System. Harvard was
recently issued an official warning for violations of the AWA including
an incident where a primate strangulated on a piece of plastic tubing.
The University of California (Davis) was the subject of intense scrutiny
when a former caretaker made allegations of abuse, following an incident
where a heating malfunction killed seven primates. The University of
Wisconsin has been fined for killing marmosets in a cage washer and has
had dozens of AWA violations since. The Oregon Health Sciences
University was the subject of an undercover investigation by animal
activists. The University of Washington (Seattle) has had major AWA
violations leading to the refunding of an NIH grant, and citations of a
researcher for illegal surgeries. Emory University was recently fined
$15,000 by the USDA for federal violations. The Primate Research Center
System is connected to over $1 billion in federally funded research
annually, and a tremendous amount of criminal activity. These problems are clearly systemic, and the government agency
responsible for regulating these labs, may be the next best thing to
powerless in the enforcement of these laws. Despite what you may have
heard about strict USDA inspections and regulations, in some instances
this system is little more than smoke and mirrors. The USDA does not
have the power to close a research facility no matter how bad it is. And
while fines can be issued, the financial penalty associated with these
fines is so small as to be almost meaningless to entities like SWFBR.
Therefore, we have taken a two-pronged approach to this matter. While
we have taken the traditional route of attempting to obtain USDA
regulatory action, we have also contacted the National Institutes of
Health to seek the repayment of all grants involving the baboon in
question, as well as the grants connected to other violations at SWFBR.
It is our sincere hope that the NIH will take swift and meaningful
action against SWFBR including: 1. Demanding full repayment of the grant money spent during the
period of noncompliance; 2. Prohibiting the offender from ever receiving another NIH grant;
3. Revoking Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research’s Office of
Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) accreditation; and 4. Further investigating Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research
for further noncompliance with animal welfare laws during the entire
funding period of the grant(s) in question. It is our hope that these actions by the NIH, when combined with
appropriate enforcement actions by the USDA/APHIS, may be sufficient to
force the SWFBR to end its criminal activity.
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