Clamping down on chimp research

Evolutionists critique experiments on 'our closest relatives' | Daniel James Devine

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Scientists in the United States have used chimpanzees in research for nearly a century. Chimps have helped man to conquer spaceflight, study disease immunity, and treat hepatitis B.

In December, though, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins announced the U.S. government wouldn't fund any new studies requiring research on chimps that involves such things as injections, biopsies, or infection with viruses, unless experiments conform to new guidelines. The guidelines allow federal scientists to use chimpanzees for human health research only when it would be unethical to use human subjects, and when no alternatives are available, such as mice or lab-grown cell cultures.

Collins' announcement reflected a dispute over chimp research that has grown louder in recent years. The Humane Society of the United States wants chimp experimentation outlawed and frequently points out the only other nation conducting such research is Gabon, in Central Africa. In 2009 the animal-rights group conducted an undercover investigation at the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana, a facility that receives around $1 million annually from the NIH to maintain about 120 federally owned chimps. The investigation uncovered some animal welfare violations and a breeding program that the Humane Society argues is illegal.