Colombian officials halt research, seize animals at NIH-supported facility after alleged monkey mistreatment | Science

Authorities in Colombia last month suspended studies at a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported malaria research facility, weeks after seizing more than 100 owl monkeys there that had been mistreated, according to a government probe.

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, Retraction Watch reported yesterday, citing allegations by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA conducted an 18-month investigation of the animal facility, part of the Caucaseco Scientific Research Consortium in the Colombian city of Cali.

Colombian authorities, according to PETA, found the animals confined in rusted, feces-caked cages in a pen made of chainlink fence and plastic sheeting. One baby monkey was found dead there and 21 animals disappeared without any documentation of their fate, PETA also noted.

Since 2003, NIH has funded $17.6 million in research at the campus, which is reportedly run by a Colombian couple, Myriam Arévalo-Herrera and Sócrates Herrera, who live there. Herrera is listed as the principal investigator on an NIH grant worth $582,000 this year.

According to a Colombian court and government documents, the couple is fighting the monkey seizure, which was executed in February by the regional environmental agency, on the same day Colombia’s attorney general announced a criminal investigation of the facility. This week, a higher court upheld a lower court’s denial of the couple’s effort to recover the animals.

In addition, authorities earlier this month seized 180 mice, the last animals at the facility. Deprived of water and crammed 30 to a box, they sometimes resorted to cannibalism, PETA alleges.

NIH told Retraction Watch it has opened an investigation into PETA’s allegations. The case is likely to intensify concerns that the agency may not be adequately monitoring animal care at overseas facilities that receive its funding. NIH spent $2.2 billion on foreign research involving animals in 44 countries during the decade that ended in 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented in a report last month. GAO noted that NIH essentially relies on a facility’s word that it is meeting U.S. animal welfare requirements. GAO said the biomedical agency should begin to conduct site visits or should require third-party verification to establish foreign facilities’ compliance.

Authorities in Colombia last month suspended studies at a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported malaria research facility, weeks after seizing more than 100 owl monkeys there that had been mistreated, according to a government probe.

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, Retraction Watch reported yesterday, citing allegations by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA conducted an 18-month investigation of the animal facility, part of the Caucaseco Scientific Research Consortium in the Colombian city of Cali.

Colombian authorities, according to PETA, found the animals confined in rusted, feces-caked cages in a pen made of chainlink fence and plastic sheeting. One baby monkey was found dead there and 21 animals disappeared without any documentation of their fate, PETA also noted.

Since 2003, NIH has funded $17.6 million in research at the campus, which is reportedly run by a Colombian couple, Myriam Arévalo-Herrera and Sócrates Herrera, who live there. Herrera is listed as the principal investigator on an NIH grant worth $582,000 this year.

According to a Colombian court and government documents, the couple is fighting the monkey seizure, which was executed in February by the regional environmental agency, on the same day Colombia’s attorney general announced a criminal investigation of the facility. This week, a higher court upheld a lower court’s denial of the couple’s effort to recover the animals.

In addition, authorities earlier this month seized 180 mice, the last animals at the facility. Deprived of water and crammed 30 to a box, they sometimes resorted to cannibalism, PETA alleges.

NIH told Retraction Watch it has opened an investigation into PETA’s allegations. The case is likely to intensify concerns that the agency may not be adequately monitoring animal care at overseas facilities that receive its funding. NIH spent $2.2 billion on foreign research involving animals in 44 countries during the decade that ended in 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented in a report last month. GAO noted that NIH essentially relies on a facility’s word that it is meeting U.S. animal welfare requirements. GAO said the biomedical agency should begin to conduct site visits or should require third-party verification to establish foreign facilities’ compliance.