Oregon National Primate Research Center: Difference between revisions

The '''Oregon National Primate Research Center''' (ONPRC) is one of eight federally funded National Primate Research Centers in the [[United States]] and has been affiliated with [[Oregon Health and Science University]] (OHSU) since 1998. The center is located on 350 acres of land west of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]], in [[Beaverton, Oregon|Beaverton]]. Originally known as the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (ORPRC), the Oregon Primate Center was the first of the original seven primate centers established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the 1960s. The Oregon Primate Center is an enormous source of revenue for OHSU. In 2002, the center's annual NIH base grant awarded to OHSU was $9,789,737. ONPRC also receives tens of millions more from NIH grants to individual projects.

ONPRC houses and uses the animals on its campus for live experimentation. Primates are used for basic and applied biomedical research, including research areas of fertility control, brain development, and virology. The center's website states that the current census of animals at the primate center includes 3400 non-human primates and approximately 3000 rodents. The majority of the primates at ONPRC are rhesus macaque monkeys. The current director of the primate center is M. Susan Smith.

In 2000, the ONPRC stepped into the national spotlight for animal rights activists and animal researcher when an undercover investigator released hours of video footage and a statement outlining problems at the center. Matt Rossell, the whistleblower, stated that over 1,200 monkeys were confined to single cages at the primate center and lacked enrichment that provided for their psychological well-being. Rossell further alleged they were used in harmful procedures that violated Federal Law. Along with the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), he submitted a formal complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture detailing the neurotic behavior seen in the monkeys, including self-mutilation, compulsive rocking, and self-clasping behaviors.

USDA investigated the complaint and responded in a January 5, 2001 letter to ALDF that “many of the individual items listed in the complaint consisted of information which could not be verified and therefore could not be “considered as violations for the purpose of initiating enforcement action.” However, regarding environmental enhancement: social grouping “was an area of major concern of the investigative team….ORPRC is being required to develop procedures for ensuring that appropriate efforts are made to socially house all nonhuman primates, and that exceptions to this requirement are appropriately considered and documented. These procedures will be submitted to APHIS for approval.”

Rossell's investigation also led to the end of at least one experiment. Daniel Casey was studying effects of psychotropic drugs on capuchin monkeys. The monkeys used in his study were housed alone in cages, a well-known cause of psychologically abnormal behavior and suffering. Casey's protocol required a necropsy and organ harvesting no later than 72 hours after the death of any of the subjects. When a monkey died on Christmas Day in 1998, Casey refused to come in to work on a holiday and the animal could not be used in the study. After reviewing the complaint and conducting an investigation of Casey's study and handling of animals, the campus Animal Care and Use Committee stated in September 2000 that it was "inappropriate for additional long-term research to be done with these animals." The remaining capuchins in the study were sent to live out the rest of their lives at the Austin Zoo.

Rossell also told of a massive outbreak of Shigella at the primate center. Shigella is a severe disease that causes monkeys to shed the lining of their intestines and suffer from bloody diarrhea. Many primates were individually quarantined or euthanized to try and control the outbreak. Rhesus macaques have immune systems evolved for the typically dry climates of India and China and according to the ONPRC the outbreak was due to a particularly wet spring in Portland.

Coinciding with Rossell's whistleblowing and resignation was the resignation and public whistleblowing of USDA inspector Dr. Isis Johnson, who confirmed problems with the Shigella outbreak and the USDA oversight system. Dr. Johnson was the USDA inspector in charge of Oregon. Dr. Johnson quit in frustration over what she felt was an inadequate response by the government to problems inside animal labs. In a public statement, she stated:

"My willingness to uphold the law during my site visits at the Primate Center led to me being 'retrained' several times by higher-ups in the USDA... I recognize the system is not set up to protect the animals but instead the financial interests of the research labs"

Along with the complaint, Matt publicized hours of footage he shot while working at the lab. Scenes from the lab show stereotypical behavior such as pacing, self-biting, self-clasping, that is pervasive in individually housed primates in labs. The footage also showed monkeys used in Martha Neuringer's experiments who had their arms wrapped in duct tape to prevent them from self-mutilating.

The investigation also resulted in the first electroejaculation documented on film and released to the public. Electroejactulation is a common procedure inside the primate centers and is the primary means of collecting semen for reproductive studies. In the footage, a primate is strapped to a chair while a positive and negative electrical bands are wrapped around the penis of a monkey. The penis of the monkey is shocked until he ejaculates and the semen is collected for research. The USDA cleared the ONPRC of any wrongdoing for the electroejaculation procedure, saying this is a normal procedure in animal laboratories.