The Facts About Primate
Experimentation
Primate experimentation in the U.S. is out of control.
Approximately 120,000 primates are imprisoned in US labs, an increase of
24% in the last ten years.
Funding for primate experimentation has also increased
reaching $1.6 billion during fiscal 2004. The National Institutes of
Health (NIH) is responsible for most of this waste with 93% of NIH-funded
primate projects not relevant to the diseases (heart disease, cancer,
etc.) that are killing humans.
Widespread Suffering
The species most often experimented on are: rhesus
monkeys, baboons, squirrel monkeys, and chimpanzees.
Laboratory isolation is severely stressful to primates. In fact, 10% of
isolated primates are so severely stressed that they begin to engage in
self-injurious behavior.
Harvard – 1700 primates imprisoned -- According to
government records the Harvard Medical School piled up 46 violations of
federal law in a three-year period, ending in 2006, while Harvard
University added 18 more AWA violations in 2005.
At the heart of the controversy at Harvard is a July
12, 2004 incident where a monkey strangulated on a piece of plastic
tubing when left unattended, confined to a restraint chair. (as a
researcher went to lunch), a cat died due to inappropriate anesthesia,
and a dog was neglected sufficiently to lose 20% of his/her body weight.
268 primates die per year at Harvard’s New England
Primate Research Center which is connected to over $350 million in
federally funded animal experiments per year.
At least two research projects at Harvard use
water/fluids as a reward for the performance of certain behaviors by
primates.
During these experiments primates receive liquids only
during the time the experiment is underway. If this experiment takes 4
hours per day, then the primates are deprived of water for 20 hours per
day.
These same experiments confine primates to restraint
chairs and bolt restraining bars and recording cylinders to the skulls
of primates while placing wire coils in their eyes.
Government Waste
Most primates are not used in experiments that study
the diseases that kill most Americans. Projects that study primate
psychology, alcohol & addictive drugs, brain mapping, and sex in
primates far outnumber studies involving heart disease or cancer.
Repetition is rampant among NIH-funded projects.
Currently, 175 NIH projects study neural information processing in
macaque monkeys. These useless experiments waste over $70 million in
federal tax dollars every year. Many of these projects continue on for
decades wasting millions of tax dollars each year and victimizing
primates for an entire lifetime.
What you can do to help:
1. Read, copy, and distribute this fact sheet.
2. Write to your federal legislators to request a
General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation of National Institutes of
Health (NIH) funded primate experimentation.
The Honorable____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-234-3121
www.house.gov
Senator __________________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-234-3121
www.senate.gov
3. Send as large a tax-deductible donation as you can
afford to Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) to support this campaign.
