BAD TIMES FOR COLOMBIAN SCIENTIST MANUEL ELKIN PATARROYO

On November 26th, 2013, the Council of State, the highest judicial colombian court, forbade the Colombian scientist Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, creator of the first vaccine against malaria, to use monkeys Aotus for performing biomedical tests necessary to determine the effectiveness of vaccines developed in the lead institute, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, FIDIC.

Subsequently, on December 12th, 2014, the Council of State revoked its own court ruling after verify, based on a study jointly developed by The National Environmental Fund, FONAM, the Institute of Genetics at the National University of Colombia, IGUN, The Corporation for Sustainable Development of Southern Amazonia CORPOAMAZONIA, and the Amazon Institute of Scientific Research, SINCHI, that monkeys, that according the prosecutors, were trafficked illegally from Peru and Brazil, there are also long ago in Colombia. But the joy for the researcher was short-lived, now his prosecutors says that the monkeys subject of litigation are a endangered specie. Maybe later they will say that those released by the FIDIC are causing overpopulation or whatever they can imagine. There will always be a new argument to obstruct Patarroyo´s work.

The second judgment orders to Corpoamazonia that within 30 days should determine whether the FIDIC has met the requirements for apply the permission and automatically lifts the punishment previously imposed. Corpoamazonia issued a Resolution, No. 0626 of May 2015, which is communicated to the scientist, who can now reuse the monkeys. The rules that he must met in order to use Aotus monkeys contain some necessary and logical requirements, but some others are are really stupid and impossible to fulfill.

It asks, for example, perform the "georeferencing the place of capture in geographical coordinates in Magna SIRGAS system. (National Geocentric Reference Framework)" which means that each collector, usually a native of the region, would have to carry and use a GPS to give the exact location in areas of 100 km2 each, within which allowed him capturing a certain number of monkeys.

"Do not release individuals collected for biomedical research back to the wild". This implies sacrifice or keep the monkeys in captivity for the rest of their lives, ranging from 12 to 25 years. The monkeys used by FIDIC have been reintroduced to their natural habitat successfully and in good condition, as acknowledged by the SINCHI Institute, whose experts have made an evaluation. Either option is cruel, inhumane and unnecessary. 

But what is really ridiculous is the requirement to obtain tissue samples from some individuals for molecular identification to confirm the presence of the species allowed in the permission ruled, which means carry up highly specialized equipment to perform DNA testing in the very jungle. There is no a drafting or interpretation error: "Corpoamazonia, in every place of harvest, prior to extraction, and simultaneously with the density estimate of monkeys population must obtain tissue samples from some individuals for molecular identification (determination of taxon through DNA testing) to verify the presence of the species allowed in the permit", says the official document.

These equipment are electrically operated and require laboratory facilities to guarantee accuracy of its results, something very difficult to obtain in the middle of the jungle. Normally these tests are required for paternity tests, forensic analysis and use to be very expensive.

To set conditions that they themselves could not meet is another way of perpetuating the revoked punishment; It means to disobey the Colombian Council of State order, that seeks to facilitate research for the development of vaccines in Colombia. An explanation of the technical reasons that Corpoamazonia had to formulate these strange requirements would be very useful to Patarroyo and the Colombian scientific community and also serve to dispel any suspicion about the intention of Corpoamazonia´s  requirement. 

Fernando Márquez