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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 AT sfchronicle.com.