Research has been halted at a U.S.-funded lab near Cali, Colombia, after mistreated monkeys were discovered at the facility, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Citing a Colombian government press release, the AAAS said that the nation’s attorney general opened an investigation into the facility in February. Altogether, 108 monkeys were removed, the release said.
“At a U.S.-funded facility supposed to be doing cutting-edge malaria research, researchers were keeping dozens of monkeys in dirty cages in poorly ventilated, over-lit enclosures,” said a RetractionWatch report cited by the association. “Several animals were smeared with feces. Some looked sick, and one was missing an eye. A fetid smell hung in the air. On the floor of a cage, a baby monkey lay dead.”
This report said the monkeys were discovered in January. It also said that inspectors previously found signs of animal abuse at the lab, known as the Fundación Centro de Primates, in 2021. Myriam Arévalo-Herrera and Sócrates Herrera reportedly live at and run the Fundación Centro de Primates and its parent organization, the Caucaseco Scientific Research Consortium.
“This week, a higher court upheld a lower court’s denial of the couple’s effort to recover the animals,” the AAAS reported Friday.
Over the past two decades, the National Institutes of Health have provided approximately $17.6 million in funding to the Fundación Centro de Primates. Just this year, Herrera was listed as the principal investigator on an NIH grant worth $582,000.
“The couple that runs the operation also falsified ethics approvals for both human and animal studies that could affect at least 24 papers published in Nature Communications, Redox Biology, Vaccine, PLOS ONE, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, and elsewhere,” said the AAAS. According to RetractionWatch, the papers in question “cite research approvals by ethics committees – institutional review boards (IRBs) and institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs) – that don’t seem to exist.”
In addition to the monkeys, PETA said that 180 mice were found at the facility this month, some of which had resorted to cannibalism. PETA also said that it conducted an 18-month investigation of the lab, led by Magnolia Martinez.
“All animals used in NIH-funded research are protected by laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the greatest commitment to animal welfare,” said a statement the NIH provided to RetractionWatch last month. “NIH takes very seriously all allegations of non-compliance and investigates every allegation. NIH has opened an investigation regarding the allegations sent by PETA. NIH does not comment on allegations while an investigation is underway.”
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