LIBERATED FROM THE LAB

National Institutes Of Health To ‘Significantly Reduce’ Use Of Chimps In Research

By Elizabeth Coady

IN WHAT ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE CALLING A ‘HISTORIC MOMENT,’ THE National Institutes Of Health announced that it would dramatically reduce the use of chimpanzees in research.

“Americans have benefitted greatly from the chimpanzees’ service to biomedical research, but new scientific methods and technologies have rendered their use in research largely unnecessary,” NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. said in a statement.

“Their likeness to humans has made them uniquely valuable for certain types of research, but also demands greater justification for their use. After extensive consideration with the expert guidance of many, I am confident that greatly reducing their use in biomedical research is scientifically sound and the right thing to do.”

But at least 50 chimpanzees will remain at NIH for future biomedical research, Collins acknowledged. But about 310 chimps will be relocated to the Federal Sanctuary System where more than 150 of man’s closest relatives already reside in retirement.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, told ABC that the policy decision “is an historic moment and major turning point for chimpanzees in laboratories, some who have been languishing in concrete housing for over 50 years. It is crucial now to ensure that the release of hundreds of chimpanzees to sanctuary becomes a reality.”

Collins’ announcement comes two weeks after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advocated eliminating a “special rule” exempting captive chimps from the Endangered Species Act.

Collins, who is a devout man of faith, has previously voiced questions about the efficacy of using animals in toxicity testing, saying, “It was expensive, time-consuming, used animals in large numbers, and didn’t always work.”

It’s a good day for chimpanzees. Now if we would only ban the use of roaches for fun and profit.