18 October 2022

MESA MONKEY FARM: International Focus + Scrutiny for Failures and Violations

More to-the-eye for what's gone unseen, unheard and unspoken by local government far too long New national attention NOW. Here is one of five issues outlined

✓ • The monkeys at the Mesa breeding facility are drinking well water tainted with perchlorate, a contaminant leached from ponds containing rocket fuel runoff from an adjacent defense contractor. Despite recommendations that a water treatment system be installed at the breeding facility in 2016, no such precaution has been taken.

✓ U.S. Senator Cory Booker is calling for the federal government to investigate why the University of Washington was given more grant money despite problems revealed by a series of The Arizona Republic stories that showed higher than expected rates of sickness and death at its monkey farm near Mesa.

✓ Booker wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Department Secretary Xavier Becerra asking why the National Institutes of Health renewed UW's $65 million five-year grant funding "despite documentation of multiple unresolved, serious issues."

✓ The New Jersey senator's letter said those issue includes "failure to maintain biosecurity— which threatens not only public safety but has also compromised the health of the monkeys and data from studies using them — repeated animal welfare violations, financial issues with taxpayer funds, and failure to comply with both state and federal laws."

"Detailed documentation of these failures and violations was exposed in a series of articles by The Arizona Republic," Booker's letter said. "I ask that the Department of Health and Human Services investigate the oversight and approval of this grant."

✓Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives also sent a letter in late August to NIH requesting an investigation into the grant renewal.

The Republic's investigation published one year ago found that Valley fever, a common flu-like illness caused by a fungus from the soil in the desert around Phoenix, ran rampant among the macaque colony and killed at least 47 monkeys died from the illness over the past eight years.

✓ The illness at the Arizona facility also threatens the results of tens of millions of dollars in research aimed at finding cures and vaccines for some of humankind’s most serious viruses and diseases — AIDS, HIV, hepatitis, Zika, Ebola and even COVID-19. That's because valley fever can come back when the monkeys' immune systems are suppressed during research, potentially compromising results.

Read The Republic's full investigation: Sickness and death at Mesa-area monkey farm threaten primate center viability

The Republic's investigation also found:

• The monkeys at the Mesa breeding facility are drinking well water tainted with perchlorate, a contaminant leached from ponds containing rocket fuel runoff from an adjacent defense contractor. Despite recommendations that a water treatment system be installed at the breeding facility in 2016, no such precaution has been taken.

•The primate center's long-term financial situation is in disarray, according to federal reports. Staff turnover has been high. Morale remains low as staff has reeled from years of poor decision-making and an embarrassing public sexual harassment scandal.

• The primate center has run afoul of state and local regulators. It was cited for failing to alert Washington state regulators that macaques imported into the state had Valley fever. And it has been cited by federal regulators for conduct detrimental to animal welfare. At least five monkeys have died since 2017 because of poor care or improper oversight.

The Health and Human Services Department and NIH did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Booker said in his letter that he is specifically concerned about five issues:

1 diseases affecting the monkeys in Arizona and Seattle,

2 violations of Washington state health and agriculture laws,

3 repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act,

4 financial and staffing issues at the primate center

5 and the UW's destruction of data in violation of Washington State's record laws.

The Washington National Primate Research Center breeds animals for research, which are dying at high rates due to various diseases caused by contaminated groundwater.

Urban ReCon: Mysterious "Monkey Farm" in Mesa?

Who Knew?

Published on Feb 3, 2016

Urban Legend stuff here guys!!
A story has surfaced about the possibility of a mysterious looking complex that was noticed by hikers on the outskirts of Mesa Arizona as possibly containing monkeys. These persons heard very loud noises coming from inside this complex you see in the video that does look to be abandoned, but does not sound like it. Could there be more going on underground than there is above ground. A brave Youtube uploader (usmc4hire) did manage to get some up close video footage of the 'facility' back in 2010. He was near the facilty again recently as 10 days ago and said it has even MORE security than it had back then a saw a large primate in one of the upper cages.

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