for research and production of sera. The Instituto Butantan also operate the "Hospital Vital Brazil", a specialist hospital that offers free treatment for poisonous animal stings and bites. The institute also accepts donations of serpents, arthropods and other animals captured by the public and by a network of collaborating centers and individuals. The following research laboratories are part of the Butantan Institute: Arthropods Herpetology Cellular biology Immunogenetics Immunopathology Viral Immunology Immunochemistry Genetics Dermatology Pathophysiology Biochemistry and Biophysics Pharmacology Microbiology Parasitology Biopharmaceuticals Applied Toxinology Biotechnology Center Important Brazilian scientists who have worked in the Butantan Institute are: Vital Brazil, Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral, Isaias Raw, Samuel Pessoa, Willy Beçak. The Institute has strong collaborative ties with the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, and with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro. Production The Butantan Institute is the largest producer in Latin America (and one of the largest in the world) of immunobiologicals and biopharmaceuticals. In 2001 it produced ca. doses of vaccines and vials of hyperimmune sera. The institute is responsible for the production of 90% of the vaccines used in Brazil. The institute contains a venom farm where researchers milk around a thousand snakes for their venom which is used to make antivenoms and for medical research. The production units manufacture the following bioproducts: Hyperimmune sera and antivenoms Anti-Bothropic Anti-Crotalic Anti-Bothropic-Crotalic Anti-Elapidic Anti-Bothropic-Lachetic Anti-Escorpionic Anti-Arachnidic Anti-Lonomia Anti-Africanized Bee Anti-Diphtheric Anti-Tetanic Anti-Botulinic A, B, E Anti-Rabies Anti-Human Thymocytes Vaccines Tetanus Toxoid Diphtheria-tetanus vaccine (Pediatric and adult) Triple vaccine: Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Recombinant Hepatitis B BCG (intradermic) Rabies (Vero Cell culture) CoronaVac (COVID-19) Biopharmaceuticals Botulin toxin BCG (intravesical) Monoclonal antibody: Anti-CD3 Erythropoietin Pulmonary surfactant Public activities The Butantan Institute is one of the major touristic and educational attractions in a vast park area in the city section of Butantã in São Paulo. It has a serpentarium, a historical museum, a biological museum, and a museum of microbiology. The venom farm is a major attraction and visitors can see the snakes housed in representations of their natural environments. The park also contains rare tree types. Butantan Foundation The Fundação Butantan is a non-profit corporation established in 1984 by Prof. Willy Beçak to use more efficiently public funds and capital investments made by the Ministry of Health for the production of immunobiologicals. The Foundation reinvests part of the proceeds to build new facilities for new products. Part of the funds are used in the Institute for