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State Officials Seek Legislation Voiding Coulston Lab's Research Exemption

from Alamogordo Daily News site

By: JEFF SIMONS,
Associated Press
January 10, 2001

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A lawmaker is proposing legislation to revoke animal-cruelty exemptions from a research lab that uses chimpanzees, and Attorney General Patricia Madrid endorsed the measure Tuesday.

The attorney general, appearing at a news conference with the bill's proponent, Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Dona Ana, said she recognized the importance of medical research but said animal research must be done properly and humanely.

"I am here today to state that I am going to be supporting the removal of the exemption for animal research contained in the New Mexico act," Madrid said.

"I have concerns about the Coulston Foundation and the allegation of inhumane treatment of chimpanzees in New Mexico. I have no tolerance for the inhumane treatment of animals," she said.

The Coulston Foundation of Alamogordo uses monkeys and chimpanzees for medical testing, including AIDS research, and receives grants from New Mexico State University and the National Institutes of Health, among others.

At the news conference, its detractors cited a 1999 report by the Association for Assessment and Accrediation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) alleging problems at the Coulston lab, including veterinary care, safety of personnel and other hazards involving animal experimentation.

Coulston spokesman Don McKinney said most problems mentioned in the AAALAC report were minor and that the lab had addressed them.

"We are trying to arrange another evaluation. They did not leave here as enemies," McKinney said.

He said amending New Mexico's animal cruelty laws would not affect the foundation because it is not cruel to its animals.

Garcia said she was "horrified" by some reports about the foundation and said lab officials "need to be more responsible."

"These people receive a lot of federal monies - taxpayers' money," she said.

"What I'm proposing to do this year - in this (legislative) session - is propose an amendment to the Animal Cruelty Act so we can remove the exemption of research facilities," she said.

The news conference hosted by Animal Protection of New Mexico included statements by actress-activist Ali MacGraw; Roger Fouts, co-director of Chimpanzee/Human Communication Institute; Suzanne Roy, program director of In Defense of Animals; and Harriette Roller, Development Director of Animal Protection of New Mexico.

"While Coulston has the world's largest captive chimpanzee colony, its real notoriety lies in the fact that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has brought more sets of formal charges against the Coulston Foundation for violations of animal welfare laws than against any other laboratory in America," Roller said.

McKinney said the foundation always works with USDA and other regulators to resolve allegations.

"When they have questions we answer them," he said. "There is nobody at the Coulston Foundation trying cover anything up."

"Despite any of the these accusations, we've never been convicted of any single violations. We have reached agreements with these regulatory agencies, and that has been in the best interests of the animals' welfare and the foundation," he said.

Animal Protection of New Mexico and IDA also called Tuesday for the USDA to take over the Coulston Fondation, hire an independent management team to operate it and permanently retire its chimps; and to hold the foundation accountable under the Animal Welfare Act for two recent chimpanzee deaths.

The groups also urged the National Institutes of Health to terminate all of Coulston's federal support and asked Congress to investigate what the activists called NIH's failure to oversee Coulston activities.

Don Ralbovsky, an NIH spokesman, said his office would respond later to their comments.


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