SWFL.io - Local NewsWINK Investigates Reporter Olivia Jean, Executive WINK Investigates Producer Brianna Lanham
•7/8/2026
IMMOKALEE, Fla. (WINK) — Federal citations against an Immokalee biomedical research facility are now driving legislation in Congress that could dramatically change how monkeys are used in medical research across the United States.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Florida, has introduced the Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposures Act, or PRIMATE Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to prohibit the importation of non-human primates for biomedical research while allowing limited exceptions, including accredited zoos.
The legislation comes after the USDA issued at least two citations this year to BC US LLC, an Immokalee biomedical research facility that imports, exports, breeds and houses long-tailed macaques used in medical research.
One citation was issued following the deaths of two monkeys inside a room that reached 104 degrees. Federal inspectors later classified the incident as a critical violation of the Animal Welfare Act.
Another citation came after a live monkey was mistakenly shipped to a biomedical waste facility in Miami after being left inside a transport crate.
Later, the facility's president was criminally charged.
Earlier this year, BC US said the incidents were unprecedented since the facility opened in 2014.
The company previously told WINK Investigates it has since strengthened inspection procedures, added additional verification steps during animal intake, retrained employees and implemented corrective actions following the citations.
WINK Investigates emailedBC USfor comment after the proposed legislation was announced but did not receive an immediate response.
Steube, who represents Florida's 17th congressional district, including parts of Lee, Charlotte, and Sarasota counties, says animal advocates brought the issue to Congress following WINK Investigates' reporting on the critical citations.
"They brought it to our attention and asked if we'd be willing to get engaged on the issue," Steube told WINK Investigates. "That incident is what brought it to our attention and now have filed the bill."
He said his primary concern is public health.
"I don't think that we should be importing disease-ridden, non-human primates into the United States and then allowing them, if they're affected with some type of disease, for that to be able to be spread," he said.
The legislation is now moving through the committee process in D.C.
Steube said he believes the bill has bipartisan appeal.
"There's been cases of tuberculosis (transmitted from nonhuman primates to humans), which is obviously highly contagious and is a significant problem to the human population," he said.
He said his ultimate goal is broader than tightening regulations. Steube says he wants to largely end the importation of primates into the U.S.
"Minus the exemption for zoos, I don't believe we should be able to import them," Steube told WINK Investigates. "Period."
He questions whether modern science still requires primate testing.
"The technology today, you don't have to have animals to do research to know the outcomes of different scientific results," he said. "Why are we importing in animals into our country that are going to be abused and then possibly transmit contagious diseases to the American population?"
Animal advocates we spoke to agree.
"It's not necessary to import them any longer," Debbie Misotti, president and director of the Talkin' Monkeys Project, said. "It's not necessary to do as much research on them as is currently being done."
Misotti runs a nonprofit sanctuary in Clewiston that provides lifelong homes for primates rescued from private ownership, breeding operations, research facilities and wildlife trafficking investigations.
She said the legislation is long overdue.
"There was a huge cheer that went up when that happened because the importation of primates has been one of the things we've been fighting against for years," she said.
Beyond the debate in Washington, records obtained by WINK Investigates reveal just how large the primate research industry has become in Southwest Florida.
"There are thousands of them," Misotti said.
Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA’s senior science advisor for primate experimentation, said, "Florida is like a monkey temporary stop. People have no idea.”
Records from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reveals at least 216 primates crossed state lines to come to Hendry County research facilities last year. The numbers also show five Hendry County facilities transferred at least 2,438 primates to out-of-state research facilities during that same time.
This year, data shows Hendry County facilities exported at least 800 primates out-of-state in just under three months.
Records reveal at least 87% of primates transferred out of five Hendry County research facilities since last year came from BC US.
"I would say, please shut down the pipeline," Misotti said.
Critics of the biomedical research industry say tracking the number of primates coming in and out of facilities is "nearly impossible," pointing to federal laws that only require disclosure when primates are transferred across state lines.
For that reason, animal advocates tell WINK Investigates they believe the industry lacks transparency and is "secretive".
“Florida represents a revolving door for the monkey trade that involves thousands of primates who come in every year from Mauritius and Southeast Asia. They are trucked up to the facilities Southwest Florida. They go through the notorious ineffective quarantine and then from there, they are boxed up, put in trucks and sent throughout the US," Jones-Engel told WINK Investigates.
For Misotti, the debate extends beyond legislation and numbers.
She believes people often underestimate the emotional and cognitive abilities of primates.
"They're cognizant beings, and they're sentient beings," she said. "They feel pain, they feel loss, and they have emotions exactly like humans."
The PRIMATE Act remains in the early stages of the legislative process. The bill must first move through committees before it can receive votes in the House and Senate.
If approved, it would significantly affect biomedical research facilities across the country that rely on imported non-human primates, including several located in Southwest Florida.
"The importation of primates has been one of the things we've been fighting against for years," Misotti said.