New experiments at Harvard Medical Schools New England Primate Research Center have been suspended after a cottontop tamarin monkey died at the facility on Sunday, the fourth primate death there in 21 months.

Calling the deaths of four primates at the Southborough facility absolutely unacceptable, deeply regrettable and personally disturbing to me, Jeffrey Flier, dean of Harvard Medical School, vowed to take aggressive action to resolve systems, processes and human errors at the facility.

When I learned of the most recent incident on Sunday, I immediately halted all new research protocols and new research on existing protocols at the (New England Primate Research Center), Flier said in a statement. The goal of this action is to provide time for our personnel to create and implement a corrective action plan.

Harvard Medical School is assembling an independent review committee to assess the facilitys logistics and management and established a team led by veterinary staff and supervisors who will perform additional daily checks verifying the heath and wellness of every animal.

We will do this until we are convinced that systems are in place to ensure the well-being of the animals, said Flier.

Harvard Medical School declined to release details of the monkeys death.

United States Department of Agriculture spokesman David Sacks said he did not have details of the monkeys death because the USDA has not investigated yet. The USDA will send an inspector to Southborough soon.

Officials at the Primate Center reported the monkeys death Sunday night to the USDA, the same day the agency released an inspection revealing three incidents in which several monkeys were injured and a squirrel monkey died because of employee carelessness. The facility is facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

Harvard did self-report that fourth incident to us, said Sacks. We were made aware of that.

Describing the past 21 months where three other primates died in December 2011, October 2011 and June 2010 as a tough stretch, Sacks said the USDA has the Southborough facility on its radar.

Continue reading here:
Harvard halts research in Southborough after fourth monkey dies