Former USDA Animal Care Inspector Exposes Agency's Disregard for Law

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Portland, Ore…Speaking at a news conference yesterday, former USDA Animal Care Inspector, Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown blasted the agency for turning a blind eye to chronic violations of federal animal welfare law.

Dr. Johnson-Brown, the inspector responsible for oversight of the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (ORPRC), and responsible for determining that the facility was in compliance with federal law, charged that her own supervisors were working against her best efforts to bring the violations to light. Brown says, "More than once, I was instructed by a supervisor to make a personal list of violations of the law, cut that list in half, and then cut that list in half again before writing up my inspection reports. My willingness to uphold the law during my site visits at the Primate Center led to me being ‘retrained’ several times by higher-ups in the USDA."

Johnson-Brown explained further that, "It was clear that ORPRC had a psychological well-being plan that wasn’t working, but I was powerless to fix the problems. All I could do was make suggestions that monkeys be housed in pairs or groups. Nothing changed in the two years I was the inspector."

ORPRC has over a thousand monkeys locked individually in small cages. Such isolation is a known cause of neurosis and often psychosis. Photographic documentation reveals that these problems at ORPRC are so severe that the animals chew holes in their own arms, spin incessantly, drink their urine, gouge their own eyes, and attack themselves in various ways.

"Monkeys are among the most social of all animals. They have complex minds, emotions, and needs that cannot be met in any biomedical research setting. The situation at ORPRC is an example of what is considered ‘humane’ research. The question before the American public is whether ‘humane’ research on monkeys can be justified. We have learned from primatologists that monkeys have distinct ‘words,’ that they are able to keep track of social dynamics and familial relationships between large numbers of individuals. We have learned that they establish bonds and coalitions that can last for years. In short, we have learned that these animals are strikingly like us," commented Dr. Elliot Katz.

"The revelations of Dr. Johnson-Brown challenge the façade of stringent federal oversight pretended for so long by the primate labs around the country. Clearly, it is time to reallocate our economic resources and move away from research methods that harm and kill animals and increase our support of human-based, technologically sophisticated research modalities.

For more information see: http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/ohsu/

Vivisection Info: IDA's Vivisection Campaign Site