From Staff Reports

YEMASSEE, S.C. — A South Carolina monkey farm “has been steadily growing its business” — that allegedly includes testing a vaccine for the highly infectious Zika virus — in a secretive laboratory inside its boundaries,” the Charleston Post and Courier reported on Dec 22.

For instance, the Post and Courier story contended thst “when a prestigious research team from Boston” wanted to test a vaccine for the highly infectious Zika virus,” it brought the project to Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, based in Yemassee, S.C.

“The team also has used Alpha Genesis for studies on vaccines for the potentially deadly viruses that cause COVID and HIV,” the Post and Courier added. 

Meanwhile, the Boston team has reported that “all of its projects won approval from an internal ethics committee at Alpha Genesis that is required by law to guard public safety and humane animal care,” rhe newspaper noted.

“Little is known about the operations of the Alpha Genesis lab or its small Institutional Care and Use Committee. The committee’s work is so closely held that some members’ names are redacted in reports it must file with a federal agency,” the Post and Courier stated.

The Post and Courier also added, “Using animals to test new drugs is another source of a fierce global debate that has encircled Alpha Genesis after 43 monkeys tapped for federal research escaped in November. 

“Federal regulators are now reviewing the incident, along with a complaint about another alleged accident that may have killed as many as 18 monkeys around Thanksgiving.

“Westergaard on Dec. 20 acknowledged to The Post and Courier that some monkeys died in an incident around that time. 

“He did not say how many or provide other details, other than to say the deaths were from carbon monoxide poisoning.”

What’s more, the Posr and Courier reported, “The company has also come under criticism from its congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents part of Beaufort County, where a portion of the massive research center is located. 

“She’s part of a congressional animal rights caucus which objects to using taxpayer funds for animal research, an argument that could gain traction as anti-vaccine advocates move into key positions in the Trump administration,” the Charleston-based newspaper’s story concluded.