By Federal researchers spent years purchasing human fetal livers and thymuses for experiments involving “humanized mice,” while the government’s tissue supplier listed intact fetal calvariums—the upper portions of skulls—among the specimens available for $515 each, government records show.
Judicial Watch obtained 198 pages of FDA contracts and communications through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services. The records detail the agency’s relationship with California-based Advanced Bioscience Resources, which supplied tissue obtained from aborted fetuses.
Most of the documents involve communications between ABR procurement manager Perrin Larton and FDA research veterinary medical officer Dr. Kristina Howard. Earlier records obtained in the same case showed that the government required purchased fetal organs to be “fresh and never frozen.”
The records show that the FDA sought $12,000 in July 2012 for “tissue procurement for humanized mice” through a noncompetitive award. The agency estimated that it could ultimately spend as much as $60,000 and argued that ABR was its only viable supplier.
“Scientists within the FDA and in the larger field of humanized mouse research have searched extensively over the past several years and ABR is the only company in the U.S. capable of supplying tissues suitable for HM research. No other company or organization is capable of fulfilling the need,” the FDA wrote.
The agency estimated its initial expenses at “$230 per tissue x two tissues per shipment = $460 plus $95 shipping = $555 per shipment. A total of 21 shipments = $11,655.00.”
An April 2013 contract modification showed that the FDA had purchased fetal livers and thymuses from ABR since at least October 2012. Each liver-and-thymus set was initially billed at $580, with the unit price later increasing to $685.
A January 2013 ABR fee schedule supplied to the FDA listed second-trimester specimens obtained through dilation-and-evacuation abortions for $275, first-trimester specimens obtained through aspiration abortions for $515 and an “Intact Calvarium” from fetuses between eight and 24 weeks of gestation for $515. The schedule also offered “Special Processing/Preservation,” including “Tissue ‘Cleaning,’” “Snap freezing” and “Passive freezing (Dry ice).”
A September 2014 order showed the FDA agreeing to pay $325 each for a second-trimester liver and thymus, plus delivery and transfer fees.
“The Contractors shall ship 2nd Trimester thymus $325, 2nd Trimester liver $325. Overnight deliver $150 and EFT wire transfer fee $25, for a total per delivery of $825. Total of this contract not to exceed $9,900.00,” the order stated.
The price of each liver and thymus increased to $340 in 2015. Two years later, ABR offered the FDA 16 second-trimester livers and 16 second-trimester thymuses at that price. The July 2017 quote specified that “tissue known to be positive for HIV, HepA, HepB, HepC or chromosomal abnormalities are not acceptable.”
The records also describe how the fetal organs were used. In a June 2017 request for a quote, an FDA contract specialist explained that researchers implanted human tissue into genetically modified mice that lacked functioning immune systems.
“The HM [humanized mice] are created by surgical implantations of human tissue into mice that have multiple genetic mutations that block the development of the mouse immune system at a very early stage. The absence of the mouse immune system allows the human tissues to grow and develop into functional human tissues…. In order for the humanization to proceed correctly we need to obtain fetal tissue with a specific set of specialized characteristics,” the FDA document stated.
A laboratory employed by ABR tested the tissue and maternal samples for hepatitis and HIV, according to a May 2018 report that noted FDA approval “for living and cadaveric donor screening.” The government contracts also required ABR to follow federal provisions governing “Convict Labor” and “Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies.”
The Trump administration terminated the FDA’s ABR contract on Sept. 24, 2018, saying it could not determine whether the arrangement complied with the federal prohibition on transferring fetal tissue for valuable consideration.
“Based on the terms and conditions of the Purchase Order as awarded to Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (“ABR”) on July 27, 2018, the Government is not sufficiently assured that the human tissue provided to the Government to humanize the immune systems of mice will comply with the prohibitions set forth under 42 U.S.C. § 289g- 2. Furthermore, the Government has concerns with the sufficiency of the sole-source justification. Therefore, pursuant to FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] clause 52.213-4(f), the Purchase Order is being terminated effective September 24, 2018,” the termination letter stated.
A federal judge later ordered HHS to disclose previously redacted prices and laboratory information. The court found “there is reason to question” the legality of the government’s transactions with ABR, but it did not rule that either party had violated the law.
“Chopping up aborted human beings for their organs and tissue is a moral and legal outrage,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “This issue should be front and center in any debate about America’s barbaric abortion industry.”
The lawsuit separately produced records showing that the National Institutes of Health paid ABR for fetal organs used in HIV-related humanized-mice research. Other FDA documents showed tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer spending on tissue specified as “Fresh; shipped on wet ice.”
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