USDA AGAIN CITES COULSTON FOR ANIMAL WELFARE VIOLATIONS

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ALAMAGORDO, NM -- December 10, 2001 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has again cited the reeling Coulston Foundation for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, In Defense of Animals and Animal Protection of New Mexico announced today.

A November 16, 2001 inspection report found multiple violations related to the two cornerstones of animal welfare compliance: research oversight and veterinary staffing/care. The agency found that Coulston has only two veterinarians to care for 277 chimpanzees and 65 monkeys at two separate sites. Incredibly, neither of these veterinarians cares for the primates on a full-time basis.

The inspection also noted the primate testing lab's claim that it would have an "experienced" veterinarian on staff by January 2002. "In light of Coulston's documented record of misleading federal agencies, how can the USDA possibly believe anything this lab says?" asked IDA Research Director Eric Kleiman, who noted that Coulston has also denied USDA inspectors access to its facility, and was so uncooperative during official USDA investigations that the agency was repeatedly forced to draw up subpoenas. Evidence of Coulston's misleading federal agencies can be found at http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/vivcampaigns/NIHtestimony/tcf_financial.pdf http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/vivcampaigns/NIHtestimony/nih_internal_1.pdf http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/vivcampaigns/NIHtestimony/nih_internal_2.pdf

"When Coulston is cited for having an inadequate number of veterinarians, the lab invariably responds that it will hire more," said APNM Development Director Harriette Roller. "But for years it has thumbed its nose at federal requirements, even going so far as to deny that it needed the number of qualified veterinarians mandated by both the NIH and Coulston's own hand-picked inspection team." Roller noted that veterinarians Coulston *has* hired have often had little or no chimpanzee experience, and often leave the facility. Since 1994, at least 16 veterinarians with more than 60 years of combined chimpanzee experience have left.

According to Kleiman, over the past four years, Coulston has been cited ten times for veterinary care and research oversight violations, involving the deaths of at least 14 chimpanzees. Coulston is currently facing an unprecedented fourth set of formal USDA charges, filed last July, for the negligent deaths of two more chimpanzees (Donna and Ray); inadequate veterinary staffing; research oversight violations; and for violating an August 1999 consent decree with the USDA to settle previous formal charges.

Coulston's continuing violations of regulations meant to ensure animal welfare, as well as Good Laboratory Practice regulations enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, have resulted in devastating losses of revenue from both private sponsors as well as the federal government. For the last two years, the FDA has prohibited the lab from conducting any studies under the agency's purview because of repeated violations of the GLP regulations, which are meant to ensure data integrity and human safety.

"For years, Coulston has been in continual violation of the most basic precepts of animal welfare compliance, data integrity and human safety," concluded Roller. "The situation is worse now than it has ever been. Enough is enough. The government must step in and shut this lab down, once and for all."

IDA is an international animal advocacy and rescue organization based in Mill Valley, CA. APNM is a statewide animal protection organization based in Albuquerque.