PETA Requires University of Washington National Monkey Laboratory and Arizona Breeding Center to Close Toxic Waste
For immediate release:
October 5, 2021
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Phoenix PETA today called on the US Department of Health and Human Services to close the federal-funded Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) at the University of Washington (UW) and its breeding center located in tribes outside Mesa, Arizona. As shown today in the stinging revelation in V Republic of arizonaWaNPRC and its breeding center sent sick monkeys to experimenters across the country, violated sanitary and veterinary rules, acted without government oversight, failed to prevent the introduction and spread of deadly diseases among monkeys, and were repeatedly cited for numerous violations of animal welfare laws – all the while breeding monkeys near a toxic waste storage site.
“The delinquency, misconduct and mismanagement at the University of Washington National Primate Center and its nursery pose a threat to public health, scientific integrity and the monkeys used there,” says PETA scientist and former WaNPRC researcher Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. … “For 60 years, UW has misled the public into thinking that its cruel and wasteful experiments are saving lives. This lie has been exposed today. “
Among the problems identified are the following:
- Pathology reports uncovered by PETA scientists show that there are several unintentional Infectious agents have been documented, including trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease), coccidioidomycosis (valley fever), campylobacter, shigella, salmonella, cryptosporidium, MTBC (tuberculosis), and cholera. WaNPRC also regularly sent sick monkeys from Arizona to Seattle and sold sick monkeys to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control, Tulane University, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins University, Southwestern National Primate Research Center. Lovelace Biomedical and other animal experimenters across the country. In May, the Washington State Department of Agriculture cited WaNPRC in response to PETA’s complaint for not obtaining the necessary permits and shipping pathogen-infected monkeys from Arizona to Washington.
- Because UW’s breeding center is located on land owned by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian community and not on state land, UW avoids the state’s usual zoonotic reporting requirements.
- The breeding center is located just 500 feet from a designated toxic waste site. Lead, perchlorates, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contaminated the surrounding soil and water, including the water used at the center, but UW was unable to alert customers who bought monkeys to experiment with.
- Over the past 10 years, WaNPRC has had eight directors and funding has been temporarily restricted by the NIH. UW recently announced the appointment of Michele Basso as its new director. Basso is famous for being one of the few university experimenters ever banned from using animals due to serious welfare problems.
- WaNPRC has been repeatedly accused of serious violations of federal animal welfare laws. The monkeys there were strangled, dying of thirst, tormented by other animals and suffocated by their own vomit. Internal documents obtained by PETA show that over the past eight months, a federally funded center has had to treat a staggering 332 injuries (including fractures of limbs and teeth), more than 200 cases of gastrointestinal problems, 149 cases of significant weight loss, 19 cases of rectal prolapse and a dozen implant abnormalities…
PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information on collecting news and reporting on PETA investigations, please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…