Documents obtained by the 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.
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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. The laboratory run by Herrera and Arévalo is associated with Centro de Investigación Científica Caucaseco (CSRC) and the Malaria Vaccine and Development Center (MVDC). The couple — and, bizarrely, some of their underage children — sit on the board of all three organizations.
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.
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In the March 9 letter, NIH requested confirmation that the CSRC was still continuing its research on non-human primates. NIH also quoted the research laboratory’s Year 2 Research Performance Progress Report, in which CSRC claimed that the main challenge during the research’s 2021-2022 period were the “SARS-CoV2 [Wuhan Coronavirus] pandemic, political instability, presidential election and government changes,” which, according to the researchers, “seriously affected the overall activities of the CSRC including lab laboratory work routine including animal experiments in Colombia.”
The 2022 Colombian presidential election transpired peacefully, with no documented evidence of persecution of primate researchers or any events that may have had a material impact on CSRC’s activities. There is no evidence that political violence as a result of Marxist terrorist groups in the country, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) or National Liberation Army (ELN), would have resulted in monkey abuse at the CSRC laboratory.
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.
“As noted in your response, the research activity involving non-human primates at FUCEP was suspended on January 16, 2023. Why was this not reported to NIAID in a timely manner?” NIH asked Herrera in the May 4 letter.
NIH also notes that communications that CSRC had with both NIAID and NIH between January and February did not appear to have any relation with the January 16 suspension.
Photos of monkeys from the Fundación Centro de Primates (FUCEP) in Cali, Colombia. (Photo via PETA)
“CSRC stated that it has kept NIAID informed and references: an in-person discussion with NIAID on January 4, 2023; messages from lawyers to NIAID and NIH on February 8, 2023 and March 23, 2023; and a teleconference with NIAID on February 13, 2023,” the letter reads. “It is unclear how the stated communications are associated with the suspension on January 16, 2023. For example, the referenced January 4, 2023 in-person discussion occurred prior to the suspension, and the stated messages from the lawyer and teleconference occurred over three weeks after the suspension.”
The 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.
“NIAID received email communication on February 6, 2023 indicating that CVC had to temporarily stop the non-human primate (NHP) experiments but the communication did not mention that the NHP colonies were being seized, and a team meeting was held on February 14, 2023 on scientific progress where the Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) confirmed there was no immediate need of NHPs,” the letter continued.
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.
“In response to NIAID’s question 4. Are all research activities using animals (regardless of the animal species) still active at the CSRC site?” NIH asked. “CSRC stated that the NIAID-sponsored projects comply with the terms and conditions of the award. However, in a letter dated April 19, 2023 from Myriam ArevaloHerrera, Ph.D. addressed to the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), it is stated that research continued prior to license renewal because CVC’s slow response to the license renewal application and because CSRC was confident the license would be reissued.”
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.
“The animal studies already yielded negative outcome,” NIH stated in the letter.
The letter reiterated to the CSRC that any new plans must comply with local animal welfare laws or risk losing funding — without mentioning the past violations of Colombian animal welfare laws that led to the closure of the laboratory in January.
Lastly, NIH informs CSRC that it may request a bilateral termination of the awards should they be unable to propose plans to achieve the project’s aims without the use of animals.
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. The certification is a requirement for institutions that conduct or support animal research funded by the PHS, and ensures that the institution meets the standards set forth in the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Still appearing on the OLAW site means the CSRC still has a green light to conduct animal experiments with American money.
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.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.