Milestones of IDA's Campaign Against the Coulston Foundation

1993 – Present

Cultivated and maintained a crucial and courageous network of whistleblowers that reached the highest levels of Coulston management.

1994 – 2001

Secured an unprecedented four sets of formal USDA charges against TCF for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act by filing dozens of complaints and reports – detailing evidence from whistleblowers and IDA's own research about TCF's negligence and violations of federal law – with the agency. None of the USDA's legal action against TCF would have been undertaken without IDA-provided evidence and pressure.

1999-2001

Secured unprecedented Food and Drug Administration regulatory action against TCF, including a prohibition on conducting any FDA-sanctioned studies at the lab and an unprecedented two official Warning Letters. This action effectively eviscerated TCF's private client base and made it impossible for the lab to recover after the government ceased funding it. IDA accomplished this action by filing several detailed complaints containing evidence of TCF's violations of FDA regulations with the agency.

1994-2002

Generated national and international media attention regarding the TCF/Air Force chimpanzee situation. IDA played a major role in the development of numerous high-profile television, newspaper and magazine exposes, including ABC 20/20, NBC Dateline, the New York Times (several stories, including one front page), the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic Television, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Dallas Morning News, among many others. This also included articles in the most prestigious scientific and industry publications such as Nature and Science, which reached Coulston sponsors worldwide. Two of the articles that IDA was central to developing (in the New York Times and the Washington Post) were entered by U.S. Representatives into the Congressional Record at hearings on the Chimpanzee Health Improvement Maintenance and Protection Act (CHIMP Act).

June 2001

Forced (by generating public and Congressional pressure as well as documenting agency malfeasance, duplicity and illegal activities) the National Institutes of Health to finally stop all funding for TCF, including over $4 million in bailout funding meant to avert bankruptcy. The loss of this funding crippled TCF, resulting in the loss of two-thirds of its annual income; six months later the lab was in foreclosure. Pressure from IDA had previously forced the NIH not to renew three lucrative contracts with TCF in 1999 that at the time comprised over one-half of the lab's income, and which CEO Fred Coulston had called "crucial" to TCF's operations.

March 2000

Exposed TCF's negligence and the NIH's malfeasance, deceit and illegal actions with regard to the lab in testimony before Congress, in which IDA used the NIH's own internal, and damning, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. IDA also proved that the NIH feared Congressional action because the agency had allowed TCF to misuse millions of dollars in publicly funded "endowments" meant for the lifetime care of chimpanzees.

1995

Stopped the Air Force from giving away 144 chimpanzees formerly used in the space program and the $10 million publicly funded building that housed them to TCF. IDA did this by spearheading the lobbying efforts – including obtaining the key involvement of Dr. Jane Goodall – to convince Congress to block the giveaway.

1996

Guaranteed a competitive bidding process for the Air Force chimpanzees that eventually resulted in 52 chimpanzees being permanently retired to private sanctuaries. IDA achieved this by spearheading lobbying efforts, including meeting with key Senate Armed Services Committee staff and the Air Force.

1997

Brought the issue of the plight of chimpanzees in research to national and international attention.

October 2000

Secured an Occupational Safety and Health Administration fine against TCF for "serious" safety violations by providing the agency with detailed evidence of worker safety transgressions at the lab as well as documentation proving that TCF management had repeatedly misled federal agencies.

August 1997

Stopped pharmaceutical giant Pfizer from proceeding with a highly invasive, highly profitable and already approved study on chimpanzees at TCF. IDA presented the company with information about TCF's record and evidence that, because the study could be done in humans, it would have violated the Animal Welfare Act.

Summer 1996

Prevented Congress from appropriating $40 million to TCF for a "Chimpanzee Aging Research Center" through intensive and successful lobbying efforts, including securing key changes in legislative report language. Under pressure from IDA, the NIH even made a presentation to Coulston's own Congressman, Joe Skeen, in which the agency argued against the Center.

November 1999

Successfully sued the NIH, under the Freedom of Information Act, forcing the release of almost 1,000 pages of internal documents related to TCF that the agency had attempted to withhold by refusing even to acknowledge their existence. Documents obtained by IDA through this and other FOIA requests demonstrated not only the NIH's malfeasance and duplicity, but also its fear as to what IDA would do next.

July 1998

Exposed the horrific spinal experiments on chimpanzees sponsored by Spinal Dynamics Corp. of Mercer Island, WA, despite denials by Coulston, Spinal Dynamics, and even some in the scientific community. The FDA would eventually find numerous GLP violations on the study, while the USDA would document multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including the negligent death of chimpanzee Eason in May 1999.

October 1998

Provided critical information in the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care's lawsuit against the Air Force that gained the release of 21 chimpanzees to the state-of-the-art Florida sanctuary. IDA filed two crucial sworn affidavits that formed much of the basis of the Center's case for Air Force malfeasance.

May 2001

Prevented the NIH from purchasing 14 baby chimpanzees from TCF for experimentation by exposing the plan publicly and forcing the agency to abandon it. The 14 babies are among those being permanently retired by the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care.

1997-1999

Secured a Congressional investigation into malfeasance on the part of TCF and the NIH, launched by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), by providing detailed documentation and analysis.

1999

Attended meeting in Washington, DC to speak against plan put forward by researcher Patricia Fultze, who maintained chimpanzees at TCF, to superinfect chimpanzees with a strain of HIV extremely pathogenic to chimpanzees. The NIH eventually decided not to go forward with the superinfection plan, which would have involved chimpanzees at TCF and other facilities such as Yerkes.

1995-1999

Through relentless pressure on regulatory, financial, media and Congressional fronts, forced the NIH to conduct an unprecedented site review/audit of TCF in April 1999. The audit found TCF only two-to-three months from bankruptcy, and documented TCF CEO Fred Coulston blaming IDA for the lab's dire financial situation.

1997-1999

Exposed the NIH's repeated untruths about TCF made during the peer review process of publicly funded grants to Congress and the media. Under pressure from IDA, the NIH eventually pulled this grant money from TCF.

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