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Chimpanzee biomedical research coming to an end?

December 15, 2011 by Diana

An independent committee of experts through the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released their report today regarding whether chimpanzees are necessary for biomedical and behavioral research. While they did not call for the immediate end to all research involving chimpanzees, they developed some very strict criteria for evaluating current and future scientific projects.

The committee was not tasked with the question of whether it was ethical to use chimpanzees in research, however they stated, “the committee feels strongly that any assessment of the necessity of using chimpanzees as an animal model raises ethical issues, and an analysis of necessity must take these ethical issues into account.”

The committee looked at all areas of current chimpanzee research receiving federal funds and concluded that, “most (emphasis added) current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary, based on the criteria established by the committee…”

As Dr. Pippin, a cardiologist and former animal researcher who was representing the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said, the release of this study is a “watershed moment” for chimpanzees. Now it is up to the NIH to decide how to respond to this report from the committee they commissioned. Their response is expected shortly.

Read a good summary of the report here from NPR news. A more detailed article from the New York Times. And the full report here from the National Academies Press.

*Update – the NIH Director’s response is here. The Director of NIH says, “I have considered the report carefully and have decided to accept the IOM committee recommendations.”

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Comments

  1. Lynn says

    December 15, 2011 at 10:03 am

    Thank you for this fabulous news Diana 🙂

  2. Amy M says

    December 15, 2011 at 10:22 am

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Denice says

    December 15, 2011 at 11:33 am

    Okay, the I ball is rolling in the right direction. Now is the time to push even harder to get these beings into sanctuary. Spread the word and make your voice known.

  4. Lynn says

    December 15, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    Just heard this reported on KIRO radio. Turned it waaay up and had a little celebration in my cubicle. Some of my co-workers have caught chimp fever and were celebrating with me 🙂

  5. Martin Bergmann says

    December 15, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    I am against unnecessary research on chimpanzees and I think animals, especially the highly developped chimpanzees deserve a treatment that meets their essential needs. I am also a supporter of sanctuaries, because they should have some “good” times after retirement .
    On the other hand I am grateful for every progress in medical research , even if it means animals have to be used. I happen to have hepatitis b and c (unfortunately) and I would be glad, if there would be finally a treatment for these potentially lethal diseases . The current treatment is unsure and has a lot of side effects, but they have improved in the last few years, perhaps with the help of our hairy brothers and sisters?

    • Diana says

      December 15, 2011 at 2:54 pm

      Hi Martin. I am so sorry for your illness and thank you for supporting sanctuaries who provide a retirement for former biomedical research animals.

      I too want our society to make progress within medical research. I think the biggest “take home” message from the IOM report is that we can use methods other than chimpanzee research to make medical progress. They committee rejected the necessity of using chimpanzees for almost all types hepatitis research and were split on whether chimpanzees were needed for developing a prophylactic HCV vaccine (see page 4 and 5 of the report: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13257&page=4).

      I think and hope that we’re entering a new era of scientific research with modalities that will continue to prove to be more effective in treating and preventing human disease than animal models.

  6. Linda (Portland, OR) says

    December 15, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    Amen!

  7. Katelyn says

    December 15, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    Unspeakably good news!!!

  8. Dawn says

    December 16, 2011 at 7:11 am

    But my understanding is that the chimps who caused this whole issue to be looked into (those at The Alamogordo Primate Facility) are still going to Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in San Antonio!! I am just sick. I thought after all this, they would at the very least, be able to stay in Alamogordo, but Sarah told me the NIH had already contracted with SFBR. I never knew that, I misunderstood. I thought if this committee agreed that chimps weren’t useful for research the APF chimps would be off the hook! But no, they’re going anyway.

    • Diana says

      December 16, 2011 at 8:12 am

      The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/science/chimps-in-medical-research.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 (last paragraph) and PCRM: http://pcrm.org/media/news/nih-announces-alamogordo-chimpanzees-will-stay-put have said that NIH Director Francis Collins confirmed that the chimpanzees will remain in Alamogordo for now.

      • Dawn says

        December 16, 2011 at 3:48 pm

        Oh thank you for posting this Diana! That is wonderful news for them! I don’t think those chimps have been actively used for research for 10 years. Also, wasn’t one of the 11 that they did alreeady ship to TX a son of one of the CSNW chimps, or have I got that confused?

        • Diana says

          December 16, 2011 at 4:06 pm

          That’s true. Levi, who is Jody’s son, was among the group that was transferred. The NIH say that part of their agreement was that once chimpanzees were removed from APF they couldn’t go back. They included that and other info in this response to PCRM’s petition against the transfer: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/air/physicians_committee_response_20110408.htm. It is still possible that the chimps remaining at APF will be transferred in the future – the transfer is just suspended while they review the research studies. I suppose one possible decision they could make is to keep the chimps on “inactive status” but still move them to Texas.

          Foxie’s son David and mother Winny, Jody’s daughter April and Negra’s daughter Heidi are still at APF.

  9. Sara Lissabet, Fairfax says

    December 16, 2011 at 11:48 am

    I took my hands off the wheel of my car and clapped when I heard this story on the news.

    Martin, I have two sisters with Hepatitis C. They are both on the newest treatment there is. The sister for whom the treatment has not worked completely (it did reduce her viral load but did not kill it for good) is an animal rights activist. I asked her about the treatment she is on and how she felt about chimpanzee research. She too is against the research but grateful that medical research has advanced to the point where she is hopeful something will come along before it’s too late for her.

    With medical advancements and technologies, if we no longer experimented on animals, we would be able to devise other ways of conducting these tests and analyzing the results.

    Stem cell research is a big leap forward in this, although I know this too is controversial for some. But you don’t have to look into the eyes of a stem cell and see pain, confusion, and distrust of humans and know that it is entirely justified because of the torture we impose on another living creature for the sake of ourselves.

    I hope the end of Hepatitis is near and the lives of the chimps who were used for its research were not in vain.

    • Martin Bergmann says

      December 17, 2011 at 9:51 pm

      Hello Sara, I also feel bad that chimpanzees had to be used in research. But Hep C especially is not only life threatening and often causes liver cancer after some time, it also makes you feel sick and weak and reduces life quality. The current treatment is still a nightmare , takes a long time has serious side effects and often the virus comes back, because it was not completely extinguished (like your sister said). Like many other people, I hope stem cell research will finally come up with a cure that works without these side effects. I am still not sure, if it was morally justified to use chimpanzees , who are so close to humans in research. But I hope that the in the future they will not be needed anymore .

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