Washington, DC (March 21, 2000) . . . The National Institutes of Health has given over $1.1 million in "supplemental awards" to The Coulston Foundation over the past nine months specifically to avert bankruptcy at the failing primate testing laboratory, In Defense of Animals (IDA) charged today. In testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies, IDA alleged that the subsidy of Coulston was illegal, in light of the lab’s record of chronic violations of animal welfare and human safety laws.

"The NIH has spent millions to keep this private lab afloat while federal law is flaunted and the chimpanzee body count continues to rise," said IDA president Elliot Katz, DVM. "It’s time for Congress act before more tax dollars are wasted and more chimpanzees die."

IDA said that in addition to the supplemental funds, the NIH has supported the lab with over $1 million per year in contracts and subcontracts for breeding, infecting and maintaining chimpanzees. This funding has been unaffected by FDA findings of hundreds of violations of data integrity and human safety regulations and repeated USDA charges against the lab for Animal Welfare Act violations.

According to IDA, federal law requires the NIH to "suspend or revoke" funds to any grantee that fails to correct violations of federal animal welfare laws and regulations.

IDA’s testimony included other revelations, based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and gathered from confidential sources:

• Coulston has "expended" millions of dollars in federal endowment funds intended for the long-term care of chimpanzees, according to a NIH audit.
• Coulston is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy with at least $800,000 in unpaid bills and $2.6 million in outstanding loans.
• NIH officials have worried internally about this "explosive situation" that had "potential to be a nasty oversight issue" and "another NIH management problem if they think that we have not been diligent in our oversight of contracts," according to internal emails.
• NIH has publicly lied about this situation, and has made misleading statements to Congress to cover up problems at Coulston.
• The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, which assesses laboratories for adherence to the Animal Welfare Act and Public Health Service Policy for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, has rejected Coulston’s application for accreditation.

IDA is an international animal advocacy organization based in Mill Valley, Calif. Its testimony before Congress is available on the web at www.vivisectioninfo.org/vivcampaigns/NIHtestimony/testimonytranscript.html

March 20, 2000 Press Release

Coulston Campaign Overview