Who’s There?
Who are the chimpanzees at these facilities?
Other laboratory facilities using chimpanzees in the U.S. include:
- BIOQUAL, Inc.
- Comparative Cognition Project (Ohio State University) - closed
- Language Research Center (Georgia State University)
BIOQUAL, Inc.
Rockville, Maryland
(BIOQUAL, Inc., formerly: Diagnon Corporation, SEMA Inc., and Meloy)
Approximate number of chimpanzees: 15
History & Profile
BIOQUAL, Inc. (BIOQUAL) is a publicly-traded contract biomedical research laboratory that receives NIH funding and is located close to NIH headquarters. (1)
BIOQUAL conducts contract services and experiments on numerous nonhuman species but focuses on nonhuman primates. (2) Recent information reveals that the lab has “1,200 nonhuman primates in addition to rabbits and rodents.” (3) The facility has over 100,000 square feet of space for animal research. (4) It employs 135 people. (5)
This facility was named BIOQUAL in December 1999, prior to which it had a sequence of different names: Diagnon Corporation, SEMA Inc., and Meloy.
This lab claims to have “a long history of providing state-of-the-art facilities and trained, experienced animal care.” (6) When the facility was operated as SEMA, an animal rights group called True Friends entered this lab in 1987 and exposed its conditions to the public. (7) A 13-minute film produced by PETA, Breaking Barriers, shows True Friends breaking into SEMA and documenting the conditions there.
The horrific conditions in which this facility kept its chimpanzees were corroborated by the famous primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, who commented:
When I visited there in March of 1987, I saw pairs of three-year-old chimps crammed into cages measuring 22 inches by 22 inches and two feet high. Each cage was pushed into something that looked like a microwave oven with a little panel of glass at the top. The only contact with the outside world was through a vent with air roaring in. It was so dark in those cages that the technicians had to use flashlights to see what the chimps were doing. (8)
Read Dr. Goodall’s complete comments on the facility at that time here.
Chimpanzee Use
For the most part, it is unclear which specific research protocols use chimpanzees. Some studies into respiratory syncytial virus are or have been conducted at BIOQUAL.
BIOQUAL participates in what it refers to as the Great Ape Brain Bank. A FOIA request to BIOQUAL on this research produced scant information.
Research Profile *
BIOQUAL has five divisions: laboratory animal sciences, reproductive endocrinology and toxicology, neurobiology and behavior, primate biology and medicine, and bioresearch.
BIOQUAL research includes “immunological, reproductive and transgenic studies and services, behavioral and neurological testing, digestive diseases and drug delivery.” (9)
In 2000, BIOQUAL was awarded two NIH contracts for AIDS research: “a five-year, $4.6 million deal with the National Cancer Institute and a seven-year, $10.7 million contract with NIAID.” (10)
In addition, BIOQUAL won a $21.2 million NIH contract “to support research efforts in contraception and reproductive health through an entity of the National Institutes of Health.” (11) The award is a renewal of BIOQUAL’s existing contract with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Bioqual will provide testing services.” (12)
Financials
- Publicly traded on the Pink Sheets under the symbol BIOQ
- For fiscal year 2005, the company had revenue and sales of $18.5 million with net income of $785,011 (13)
- Contract research revenues accounted for 99% for BIOQUAL’s fiscal 2001 revenues (14)
- Medical products accounted for the remaining 1% (15)
Annual Inspection Reports
Project R&R requested USDA inspection reports for the prior three years on July 22, 2004. We refiled another request for inspection reports on October 13, 2005 and received the inspection reports on August 11, 2006.
Address
URL: http://www.bioqual.com/
Sources
(1) http://grants.nih.gov/grants/award/
(2) http://www.labanimal.com/laban/jobs/ads/ad31.html
(3) http://www.labanimal.com/laban/jobs/ads/ad31.html
(4) http://www.labanimal.com/laban/jobs/ads/ad31.html
(5) http://www.mdbio.org/cgi-bin/md_bioscience_rev4/company_overview.cgi?id=59
(6) www.bioqual.com/govt_contract.asp
(7) http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/cantor01.pdf
(8) Excerpted from Across the Species Barrier: Jane Goodall on Chimpanzees. [Reaching Across the Species Barrier: Jane Goodall on Chimpanzees Web retrieved Feb. 16, 2005.]
(10) Terence Chea, “NIH Enlists Bioqual to Study AIDS” Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) p. E5 (Mar. 6, 2001)
(11) Washington Business Journal (Jan. 22, 2003)
(12) Washington Business Journal (Jan. 22, 2003)
(13) 8/30/05 CEO Letter to Shareholders, obtained from website 10/01/05
Comparative Cognition Project - CLOSED
Columbus, Ohio
(affiliated with The Ohio State University Chimpanzee Center and The Living Links Center for the Study of Evolution & Behavior)
Approximate number of chimpanzees: 9
NOTE: This facility closed in February 2006. One chimpanzee, Kermit, died soon after arrival to sanctuary. A second, 16-year-old Bobby, died on April 20, 2006. Read more in News.
History & Profile
In 1983, Dr. Sally Boysen, professor in the Department of Psychology, established the Comparative Cognition Project at the Ohio State University Chimpanzee Center. (1) The Center was one of three centers dedicated to the scientific study of chimpanzee cognitive abilities related to child development, comparative psychology, animal behavior, cognitive ethnology, neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy. (2)
Chimpanzee Use
The nine chimps formerly at this center – Kermit, Darrell, Sheba, Sarah, Bobby, Ivy, Harper, Emma, and Keeli – came primarily from labs or zoos. (3)
Research Profile *
Principal Research Programs: Studies of numerical competence and representational abilities cognition
Sources
(1) http://chimpcenter.osu.edu/research.htm [cite no longer exists]
(2) http://chimpcenter.osu.edu/research.htm
(3) http://chimpcenter.osu.edu/chimps.htm
Language Research Center
Decatur, Georgia
(affiliated with Georgia State University)
Approximate number of chimpanzees: 4
History & Profile
The Language Research Center (LRC) is operated by the Department of Psychology in Georgia State University’s College of Arts and Sciences on a wooded 55-acre facility south of Atlanta. (1) LRC is home to chimpanzees and monkeys. (2)
Dr. Duane Rumbaugh, an experimental psychologist, began language studies with chimpanzees in association with Georgia State University. (3) The studies taught chimpanzees and bonobos using a computer-monitored keyboard to communicate using lexigrams, or abstract symbols. (4) The language of communication is referred to by researchers as Yerkish, after the Yerkes Primate Center.
Chimpanzee Use
Four chimpanzees – Lana, Sherman, Panzee, and Mercury – are used in the research conducted at LRC. (5)
Research Profile *
Principal Research Programs: Language and cognitive abilities of chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys
Address
URL: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/home.htm
Sources
(1) www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/home.htm
(2) www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/primates-main.htm
(3) www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/history.htm
(4) www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/history.htm
(5) www2.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc/chimps.htm
Last updated: March 2007