Chimp Research in Danger of Losing Public Support and Government Funding

As the American public becomes more concerned with the welfare of animals and the web of ethical issues that the use research animals creates, one type of animal research is becoming more scrutinized than the others: the use of chimpanzees for drug research and development. Two facilities in particular, the National Institutes of Health and the New Iberia Research Center, have taken much fire opposing their apparent breach of a sixteen year-old sanction on the birth of more chimpanzees solely for medical research. Although Americans have generally become more concerned with the ethical treatment of research animals, the testing of new drugs on animals is seen by many as a must for simply one reason: it is less ethical to test the new drugs on humans.

In the article “Breeding Contempt”, the author is not opposed to animal research, as long as the animals are treated as ethically as possible. A claim is made that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), headquartered in Maryland, has not enforced a moratorium imposed in 1995, which prohibits the breeding of chimpanzees specifically for medical research. The moratorium was enacted in 1995 for financial reasons, predominately because “it costs at least $300,000 to support a single chimp for its lifetime” (Breeding Contempt, Para. 6). The author claims that the American public supports this type of research in faith that the animals being used are treated as humanely as possible, and that we the people deserve more honesty from the institutions conducting said research. The Humane Society has presented evidence of 137 chimp births at the NIH facility to the US Senate committee that appropriates funds to the NIH, which forced the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) to confess the births of the chimps. The revelation of this new information has decreased the amount of public support of medical research on chimpanzees in the United States, due to the research facility’s lack of compliance with the sanction of breeding more animals.

In the article “Chimp Research Unethical, IOM Says”, the author is relaying the statements from an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that calls for strict limitations of the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research. According to the IOM, “‘The committee concluded that research using animals that are so closely related to humans should not proceed unless it offers insights not possible with other animal models and unless it is of sufficient scientific or health value to offset the moral costs,’ said Jeffrey Kahn, chairman of the IOM committee, in a news release. ‘We found very few cases that satisfy these criteria’” (Gann, Para. 2). The IOM also concluded that because chimpanzees share some behavioral characteristics with humans, testing new drugs on them is unethical. Chimpanzees are, however, the most genetically similar creatures to humans on Earth and are viewed as accurate models for how drugs work within the human body. Chimpanzees have been used to test drugs against hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV among many other diseases, and many argue that the prohibition of testing new drugs and medicines on the chimpanzees will negatively impact the development of treatments for many life-threatening diseases.

In the end, the level of honesty shown by the NIRC and NIH henceforth and the way the public perceives the dishonesty of the institutions and cover-up of the chimps born in the facilities will determine the resolution of this emerging debate. Should the public support of this issue drop further, the system for testing and producing new drugs could be drastically altered. We should hope, for the benefit of those who truly need the medicines tested on chimpanzees, that the issue will be resolved in a way that is most beneficial to all affected by the matter.





"Breeding Contempt : Nature : Nature Publishing Group." Nature Publishing Group :
Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7374/full/479445a.html>.



Gann, Carrie. "Chimp Research Unethical, IOM Says." ABC News. 15 Dec. 2011. Web.
30 Jan. 2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/12/15/chimp-research-unethical-iom-says/>.