Newly disclosed records and whistleblower claims have intensified scrutiny over biosafety practices at a high-containment NIH laboratory after a staff member was exposed to a deadly hemorrhagic fever virus during an experiment involving infected primates.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
New disclosures surrounding a federally operated infectious disease laboratory in Montana have renewed concerns about biosafety oversight at U.S. government research facilities after an employee was allegedly bitten by a monkey infected with a dangerous African hemorrhagic fever virus.
According to a report published this week, two biosafety incidents occurred within the past year at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, a Biosafety Level 4 facility that handles some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens.
One of the incidents involved exposure to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, a highly infectious disease capable of causing severe bleeding, organ failure, shock, and death. Federal officials acknowledged the exposure after outside groups publicized internal records, though details regarding the circumstances surrounding the incident were not initially disclosed.
The watchdog organization White Coat Waste Project stated in its investigation that it obtained internal records indicating NIH reported in November 2025 that a “select agent” pathogen had been lost, released, or stolen from the facility. Select agents are classified by the federal government as biological materials capable of posing major public health or bioterrorism threats.
Rocky Mountain Laboratories operates at the highest level of laboratory containment recognized by the federal government. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, Biosafety Level 4 laboratories are designated for work involving agents considered high risk and frequently fatal.
Following public disclosure of the incident, NIH later acknowledged that a laboratory worker had been exposed to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus but did not specify how the exposure occurred.
White Coat Waste Project officials later said they received an anonymous whistleblower letter claiming the exposure resulted from a monkey bite during a live-virus experiment.
“Following that investigation we did, we then received an anonymous, unsigned, undated letter from a whistleblower at our PO Box in Washington, D.C., and this letter stated that this person had very intimate knowledge of what was happening in NIH,” Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the organization, told Just The News.
“The NIH did not admit the full truth about what happened, that the exposure that happened in the lab was because a monkey who was being used in painful experiments with this virus, bit a staffer,” Goodman said.
The laboratory previously faced criticism after White Coat Waste Project said it obtained records and photographs through a 2022 lawsuit documenting primate testing involving Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus at the NIH facility.
Additional scrutiny has also focused on former Rocky Mountain Laboratories Virus Ecology Unit chief Vincent Munster, who is reportedly under FBI criminal investigation over allegations involving the transport of biological samples into the United States without proper authorization.
Munster, who has longstanding professional ties to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, traveled earlier this year to the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside NIH scientist Claude Kwe Yinda.
According to reporting by Children’s Health Defense, airport authorities later discovered the scientists carrying patient-collected biological samples, including monkeypox virus materials classified as select agents, allegedly without required transportation permits or legal documentation. Both scientists were reportedly placed on administrative leave and removed from Department of Health and Human Services directories.
The developments have revived criticism directed at federal health agencies that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly surrounding questions over gain-of-function research and U.S. funding connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Congressional documents concerning gain-of-function research and subsequent disputes involving Fauci’s testimony became central issues during investigations into the origins of COVID-19.
Public skepticism toward federal health institutions also increased following disclosures surrounding EcoHealth Alliance funding, the debate over the lab-leak hypothesis, and claims involving the “Proximal Origin” paper, which critics argued helped discourage discussion of a laboratory-origin theory during the early months of the pandemic.
Polling data cited in a New York Times opinion piece indicated that belief in a laboratory origin for COVID-19 increased substantially between 2020 and 2023.
Former President Joe Biden later issued a pardon to Fauci.
Rep. Paul Gosar, who has introduced legislation targeting federal funding for certain animal experiments and infectious disease laboratories, sharply criticized federal oversight practices following the Montana disclosures.
“Secretive monkey lab accidents and virus smuggling scandals sound like something ripped straight from Anthony Fauci’s playbook, yet somehow this dangerous madness is still happening years after his disgraceful exit from government,” Gosar told Just The News.
“Fauci helped create a culture of deception, recklessness, and zero accountability that put Americans at risk and eroded public trust in our health institutions,” Gosar added.
“That is why I have led the fight to defund Fauci’s COVID collaborators, end barbaric taxpayer-funded beagle experiments, and permanently shut down these dangerous virus labs before they unleash another catastrophe on the American people.”
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