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.
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) – Over 900 animals
imprisoned, including more than 200 primates -- At least three research
projects at UCSF deprive primates of water for as much as 22 hours per
day, 5 days per week. During these experiments primates receive liquids
only during the time the experiment is underway. 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.
Internal records from UCSF expose terrible abuses:
Primate mmu30531 had 14 surgeries in five years.
Primate mmu31394 had 7 surgeries in three years.
Primate mmu29678 had 10 surgeries in 4 years
UCSF records also reveal that ongoing pathological conditions
including serious bacterial infections in macaque monkeys may have
eliminated the applicability of the research in which they were used
beyond repair. These primates are MMU30531, primate 33059, and primate
MMU31314. Records for these animals reveal infections lasting as long as
8 months.
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.
Many UCSF experiments are highly duplicative & should be terminated
immediately.
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
