NIH decision signals the beginning of the end
for medical research on chimps
By Brandon Keim - Wired Science - September 21, 2012
With the retirement of 110 government-owned chimpanzees, the end of medical research on man’s closest living relative may be near.
Today, the National Institutes of Health announced that all of its chimps now living at the New Iberia Research Center would be permanently removed from the research population.
Long criticized by animal advocates for mistreating animals and illegally breeding chimps, New Iberia operates the largest research chimp colony in the United States and is a bastion of a practice abandoned in every other country.
“This is a major message from the NIH: that this era is coming to an end,” said John Pippin of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an animal advocacy group. “This is huge.”
In December of last year, an expert panel convened by the Institute of Medicine, the nation’s medical science advisers, declared that medical research on chimpanzees was ethically problematic and, in most cases, scientifically unnecessary. The NIH announced a moratorium on new chimp research funding and agreed to review the status of its own animals. After years of fighting for an end to medical research on chimps, whose ability to think, feel and suffer is not far removed from our own, animal advocates greeted that news with cautious relief. The NIH’s intentions sounded good, but what they’d actually do remained to be seen.
With the decision to retire 110 chimps at New Iberia, the NIH leaves little doubt of its plans. “This is a significant step in winding down NIH’s investment in chimpanzee research based on the way science has evolved and our great sensitivity to the special nature of these remarkable animals, our closest relatives,” said NIH director Francis Collins to the Washington Post.
Excluding the retired chimpanzees, the NIH still owns an estimated 475 chimps eligible for research. Another 500 or so are owned by pharmaceutical companies. The NIH’s decisions influence their fate as well, said Pippin.
“With this indication that the NIH is going to get out of chimp research, that’s going to drop the bottom out of the whole chimpanzee research enterprise,” Pippin said. “How are you going to justify your research in light of what the IOM and NIH have said? Even those not directly affected by this prohibition are going to give up. They do not have scientific or ethical justification to continue.”
Kathleen Conlee, animal research director with the Humane Society of the United States, was more measured in her response.
“They’re taking a step in the right direction by deeming these chimps ineligible for research,” she said. “But we’d rather see them go to sanctuary.” She noted that while 10 of the New Iberia retirees will be sent to the Chimp Haven sanctuary, the rest will go to the Texas Biomedical Institute’s Southwest National Primate Research Center.
Though the newly retired chimps won’t be used again in medical research, that type of research still occurs at Southwest. Indeed, it was an attempt to send retired chimps back into research at Southwest that sparked the controversy that led to the IOM report and NIH review.
“Places like Southwest were built to be research labs. We’d urge the chimps to be sent somewhere where the mission is the well-being of chimps,” Conlee said. According to Conlee, housing animals at Chimp Haven costs the government $40 per day, compared to $60 per day at research laboratories.
Conlee said that some companies, including Abbott Labs and Idenix, have agreed to follow the IOM guidelines for chimp research or abandon it altogether. Others, including GlaxoSmithKline, have already given up.
Rather than relying on corporate goodwill, however, both Conlee and Pippin urged people to support the Great Ape Protection Act and Cost Savings Act. Now under Congressional consideration, the bill would end on medical research on chimps.
This article was originally posted at Wired Science
National Institutes of Health Calls 110 NIRC Chimpanzees “Permanently Ineligible” for Invasive Research
The Humane Society of the United States today welcomes a decision by the National Institutes of Health for making 110 chimps currently housed at the New Iberia Research Center “permanently ineligible” for research and is moving them out of that facility, including a move of 10 of the animals to Chimp Haven, a chimpanzee sanctuary in Louisiana.
According to officials at NIH, the other 100 chimpanzees to be directly affected by this announcement will be deemed permanently ineligible for research and will be moved from New Iberia Research Center to the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. NIRC, where The HSUS conducted a comprehensive and widely publicized undercover investigation in 2009, will no longer be receiving funds from NIH for chimpanzee research. All 110 chimpanzees will be moved out of NIRC before August 2013.
“NIH’s announcement is a significant step forward in our goal toward ending invasive experiments on chimpanzees and facilitating the move of the current population of chimps in laboratories to reputable sanctuaries,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. “With the Institute of Medicine finding last year that the use of chimps in invasive experiments is ‘largely unnecessary,’ we look forward to working with NIH and the Congress to develop a workable plan to move all of the government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries in the years ahead.”
A Working Group appointed by NIH is currently making recommendations on how to implement the IOM report, which was issued last December. According to NIH, the government owns 705 chimpanzees.
The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S.810 and H.R. 1513) would phase out all invasive research on chimpanzees and retire government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuary while saving U.S. tax dollars and reducing the federal deficit by approximately $25 million per year. The bill currently has 173 co-sponsors in the House and 19 in the Senate.
According to officials at NIH, the other 100 chimpanzees to be directly affected by this announcement will be deemed permanently ineligible for research and will be moved from New Iberia Research Center to the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. NIRC, where The HSUS conducted a comprehensive and widely publicized undercover investigation in 2009, will no longer be receiving funds from NIH for chimpanzee research. All 110 chimpanzees will be moved out of NIRC before August 2013.
“NIH’s announcement is a significant step forward in our goal toward ending invasive experiments on chimpanzees and facilitating the move of the current population of chimps in laboratories to reputable sanctuaries,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. “With the Institute of Medicine finding last year that the use of chimps in invasive experiments is ‘largely unnecessary,’ we look forward to working with NIH and the Congress to develop a workable plan to move all of the government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries in the years ahead.”
A Working Group appointed by NIH is currently making recommendations on how to implement the IOM report, which was issued last December. According to NIH, the government owns 705 chimpanzees.
The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S.810 and H.R. 1513) would phase out all invasive research on chimpanzees and retire government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuary while saving U.S. tax dollars and reducing the federal deficit by approximately $25 million per year. The bill currently has 173 co-sponsors in the House and 19 in the Senate.
What is the 'Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act'?
The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R. 1513 and S. 810) has been reintroduced with strong, bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. This common-sense legislation would phase out invasive research on chimpanzees in laboratories in the U.S., retire the approximately 500 government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuary, and end breeding of chimpanzees for invasive research.
The Institute of Medicine confirmed that there is no area of invasive biomedical research that requires the use of chimpanzees. There is now overwhelming scientific, ethical and economic evidence for ending harmful chimpanzee research. Furthermore, this much needed legislation will save taxpayers approximately $25 million every year.
TAKE ACTION - support the 'Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act' (for U.S. citizens only)
Watch the above video featuring Glee's Charlotte Ross, then make a brief, polite call to your two U.S. senators and your U.S. representative urging them to co-sponsor and support the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. Look up your legislators' names and their phone numbers.
After making your phone call (please do not skip that crucial step!), fill in and submit the form on the website of the HSUS by clicking on the picture below, to automatically send a follow-up message to your legislators. Elected officials receive a lot of email, so remember to personalize the email message below so that your message will have a greater impact.
The Institute of Medicine confirmed that there is no area of invasive biomedical research that requires the use of chimpanzees. There is now overwhelming scientific, ethical and economic evidence for ending harmful chimpanzee research. Furthermore, this much needed legislation will save taxpayers approximately $25 million every year.
TAKE ACTION - support the 'Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act' (for U.S. citizens only)
Watch the above video featuring Glee's Charlotte Ross, then make a brief, polite call to your two U.S. senators and your U.S. representative urging them to co-sponsor and support the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. Look up your legislators' names and their phone numbers.
After making your phone call (please do not skip that crucial step!), fill in and submit the form on the website of the HSUS by clicking on the picture below, to automatically send a follow-up message to your legislators. Elected officials receive a lot of email, so remember to personalize the email message below so that your message will have a greater impact.
