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 Wisconsin, Madison
(UW) –
1600 primates imprisoned -- UW reports reveal stunning
abuses in which primates are dying with brain infections sufficient to
have liquefied the cerebrum. One primate died with a foreign object
lodged in the intestinal tract, while another was killed during
preparation for surgery when an endotracheal tube tore the monkey’s
throat.
Other primates at the UW died with severe cases of
pneumonia, as well as full-thickness ulcerations of the skin. In many
instances these conditions were the result of devices implanted into the
spinal chord of the deceased monkeys. Other monkeys died with meningitis
which resulted from ‘headcaps’ which had been attached to the skull.
A female rhesus monkey (r87095) apparently died of
“peritoneal and uterine rupture during delivery with subsequent sepsis.
The sepsis was most likely the cause of death of this animal.”
Rhesus Monkey r94075, who is classified as an
experimental death, died with “Severe multifocal chronic tract formation
with fibrosis and mild multi-focal chronic meningitis and choroid
plexitis, cerebrum, hypothalamus, meninges.”
Three marmosets cj0549, cj0475 and cj0543 are all
listed with serious skin conditions such as: “Severe focally extensive
full thickness necrosis with regionally extensive mild subacute
paniculitis, skin (implant site). Marmoset cj0549 is also listed as “On
the back over the mid-spine is a 5 mm long, full thickness skin wound
from which one end of a 2 cm capsular implant protrudes.”
Violations of Federal Law
The UW violated the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) 20 times
in a recent nine month period. The violations were in the areas of
inadequate veterinary care, housing and Institutional Animal Care & Use
Committees. The UW was fined almost $7000 by the USDA for incidents in
2004 & 2005, including one tragedy which killed three marmosets in a
cage washer. In 2005 a dog died at the UW due to inadequate veterinary
care.
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.
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.
