Scores of research monkeys dead due to malfunction at Daejeon lab

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April 27, 2005 KST 00:44 (GMT+9)

Scores of research monkeys dead due to malfunction at Daejeon lab

 

April 27, 2005 ¤Ñ A breakdown last week in the climate control system at

Korea's only primate studies center resulted in the deaths of 99 monkeys

kept for research purposes.

 

According to the Science Ministry and the Korea Research Institute of

Bioscience and Biotechnology yesterday, a power transformer at the Daejeon-

based institute caught fire late April 20, causing a malfunction in

temperature control systems for at least two hours.

 

As a result, the temperature inside the laboratory rose out of control,

threatening 135 monkeys kept inside a sealed room.

 

" We found more than half of them dead inside the laboratory, " said Hyun

Byung-hwa, head of the institute's primate research center.

 

The center was the first established in the country to do reseacrh on

primates. The laboratory had tight filter systems to control air flows into

the room in order to keep it germ-free.

 

The monkeys cost the facility from 3 million to 5 million won ($5,000)

each, the institute said. Breeding a single monkey there costs the

institute even more, at up to 10 million won a year.

 

The Science Ministry said it would soon send an inspection team to the

institute to conduct an investigation.

 

The institute said it would import 30 monkeys from Indonesia to continue

its research.

 

" When the transformer caught fire, power from a backup source was supplied

immediately, " said Kim Yeong-gwon, manager of the institute's publicity

department. " But the fire somehow broke down the temperature control device.

"

 

The laboratory temperature was kept at 30 degrees centigrade, or 86 degrees

Fahrenheit, at all times.

Some animal experts asked why a national research center was not better

prepared for such accidents.

" Animals used for primate studies are expensive, and if we are not going to

be prepared for safety problems, we can lose everything we have been

studying, " one researcher said.

 

The fire in the transformer also caused power outages at a nearby apartment

complex and a few university buildings at the nearby Korea Advanced

Institute of Science and Technology.