A biological research company in China purchased a 1,400-acre property in Levy County, Florida, hoping to build a primate breeding facility.
JOINN Laboratories asked Levy County’s Planning and Zoning Department to authorize using the $5.5 million property for a primate quarantine and breeding facility. The county allows research laboratories in its industrial zoning, according to a Citrus County Chronicle report.
Stacey Hectus, the county’s planning and zoning director, told the Chronicle that the land is zoned for forestry and rural residential purposes. Hectus doubts the Chinese company will get a zoning variance to build a testing facility at 6870 SE County Road 326.
The Citrus Chronicle further reported:
“We had discussions with all of the above people explaining that this was not permitted in the zoning district they were in,” Hectus explained. “They asked to rezone the property but I stated that a request such as that would not be looked upon favorably by staff because of compatibility and spot-zoning.”
Because the parcel has a Future Land Use and Zoning of Forestry/Rural Residential, Hectus said, in this case a land use amendment and a rezoning would be required, and if the parcel is over 50 acres, that requires review by the state as part of the expedited state review of comprehensive plan amendments.
“Because it would most likely need to go to the state, we would require that to happen first, see what comments came from the state agencies and then, if the applicant received favorable review by the state, they could proceed with the rezoning,” she said, noting all of these are public hearings and would require notice such as signs posted on the property for the duration of the process, ads in the paper, letters to surrounding property owners within 300 feet of the parcel(s) in question.
The Chronicle could not access JOINN Laboratories CA Inc. website and a phone number listed for the parent company did not ring. The paper reached out to JOINN Biologics US Inc. for comment about their parent company’s plans for the property. According to JOINN Biologics website, JOINN Laboratories is the parent company and is the leading clinical and nonclinical CRO with facilities in China and U.S.
“JOINN Laboratories CA Inc. is a different company from JOINN Biologics US Inc,” JOINN Biologics wrote in its response. “They are on the same campus as our company, but they are a completely different legal entity. Please direct your inquiry to the company listed on the public information.”
A June 21, 2022, article by Yicai Global, stated that JOINN Laboratories shares had increased despite a ban on the import of monkeys for research purposes by the Chinese government.
The import ban, the news article stated, coupled with a big surge in the development of new drugs, which are tried out on non-human primates before they are used in clinical trials on human subjects, has led to a shortage of lab monkeys in the country. There are only 30,000 in the country, according to a recent report by China Fund.
The cost for lab monkeys has risen from $1,046 in 2014 to $29,874 the story stated.
Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, an adviser to PETA, told Fox News that primate experimentation is characteristically secretive and dangerous.
“Everyone has to recognize that this is a really significant risk, a risk to the monkeys who never make it out of these experiments or this industry alive — or worse, of the Florida residents, a risk to the entire country,” she said.
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