Freedom the Monkey

[Guest guest]

In the news this morning:

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/24/MN111880.DTL

 

Monkey's escape may sink biodefense lab - Opponents of proposed UC Davis

facility go ape over security breach

Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, February 24, 2003

 

The escape of a small gray and tan monkey from a UC Davis medical

research center may threaten a proposed high-security lab on campus to

study deadly infectious organisms such as anthrax and smallpox that

could be used as terrorist weapons.

 

The 4-pound rhesus macaque monkey vanished two weeks ago as her cage was

being cleaned at the California National Primate Research Center, where

she was used for breeding purposes and was " disease free, " according to

the university.

 

But the primate's disappearance is raising grave concerns among the many

opponents of a proposed $150 million biocontainment facility that would

be entrusted to study the world's most dangerous diseases.

 

" A lot of people are anxious about security and the university's ability

to operate a lab with such high security needs, " said Davis City

Councilwoman Sue Greenwald. " This doesn't reassure citizens who have the

perception that the proposed facility cannot be failsafe. "

 

On Wednesday, the City Council will vote on a letter, drafted by Mayor

Susie Boyd, formally telling UC Davis officials that city government

opposes the facility.

 

The Davis campus is among several institutions in the country that

applied this month to the National Institutes of Health for the funds to

build the National Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases.

 

The facility would be the only Biosafety Level 4 lab on the West Coast,

and it would house such highly infectious and deadly organisms as

anthrax, smallpox, the Ebola virus and the plague. Monkeys for the Level

4 lab would be supplied by the California National Primate Research

Center -- from which the monkey escaped.

 

The research center currently supplies monkeys to other UC campuses for

Level 2 and 3 research such as cancer, asthma and AIDS, and it is one of

eight centers nationwide supported by the NIH to conduct medical

research.

 

Opposition to the proposed Level 4 facility from Davis city government

cannot, by itself, stop UC from getting the lab, but NIH has said

community input will be a factor in selecting a site.

 

Boyd says the disappearance of the monkey, which has been on the lam

since Feb. 13, played no role in her decision to ask the council to vote

against the lab.

 

The 2-year-old monkey stands 20 inches high and is valued at $5,000. It

was kept in an indoor cage for breeding purposes with a " disease-free "

group of animals at the research center, said UC Davis spokeswoman Maril

Stratton. More than 4,200 monkeys live in the primate center, Stratton

said.

 

ESCAPE TRIES NOT UNUSUAL

 

Every year, several monkeys make a break from their outdoor enclosures

but are found within the confines of the center itself, Stratton said.

She said indoor escapes have been rare and the last one happened 30

years ago. That monkey was quickly found and tighter security imposed.

 

The university is investigating the possible theft of the monkey --

officials said she could not have slipped off campus on her own. They

have searched for her in vain, scouring sewers, baiting traps.

 

The university has said that security would be much more stringent at

the proposed Level 4 lab and that no monkey would escape from the

facility, which would have armed guards. Nonetheless, many community

members are capitalizing on the AWOL primate to raise alarm about the

project.

 

" They can't even handle security to keep a monkey in, " says Samantha

McCarthy, a member of the newly formed Stop UCD BioLab NOW. " They didn't

even tell the public about the monkey's disappearance for a week. . . .

It's a security breach regardless of how it disappeared.

 

" It's all so ridiculous -- we have monkeys escaping, we have faculty

members and the community up in arms. "

 

UC Davis' proposal has been endorsed by numerous politicians and

agencies, including the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, the Sacramento

County Board of Supervisors and the public health directors of

California's 58 counties.

 

OPPOSITION ON THE RISE

Earlier this month, the Davis City Council sent a " neutral " letter to

the NIH, saying it needed additional information and public outreach

before voting on the proposal.

 

Particularly in Davis, public opposition has been increasingly

thunderous. Boyd says letters and phone calls to her are running 50-1

against the project.

 

" While I personally still support it . . . I have to put aside my

personal point of view, " she says. " I knew it would be controversial,

but I believed the support would be stronger. I have not seen an issue

that was so overwhelmingly opposed in my 13 years on the council. "

 

E-mail Elizabeth Fernandez at efernandez.

 

 

 

--

Caity McCardell

http://www.CaityandStefan.com

 

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