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Chimpanzees Used
in Research
According to the
Jane Goodall Institute, (JGI), there is estimated to be 1,000 or
more chimpanzees kept in research institutions around the world and
the majority of them are now currently used in the United States.
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It is amazing to
know that we are essentially 98% chimpanzee due to our genetic
relatedness. This is also very sad because it makes chimpanzees
good research subjects for human diseases because they are so much
like humans. Many times chimpanzees are used in research that could
not be tested on human subjects.
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Much of the
research community has kept its practices and its use of chimpanzees
away from the public. Research companies do this so they don’t have
to worry about the public interfering with their research. Many
times when a popular animal, like the chimpanzee, is being treated
poorly negative public appeal can shut down whatever company or
study that is harming the animal. Most of the research that is done
on chimpanzees is very invasive. The experiments affect their
health, and can dramatically alter their quality of life. In
addition to tests that might make the chimpanzees sick, the research
will often require
chimpanzees to be separated from social groups or kept in smaller
cages for easier observation. In the past there were no
regulations on what research could be done with chimps or how they
should be housed. This led to hundreds, if not thousands, of chimps
that lived in conditions that would not be suitable for any animal,
let alone the intelligent, long lived chimpanzee.
Some people may
feel guilty about wanting better medicines for people, but not
wanting to hurt animals in the process, especially the chimpanzee.
Luckily for us the modern world is making huge strides in the world
of technology, which has allowed medical research to continue
without the huge demand for chimpanzee subjects. Also, the political
world has been awoken by the outcries from the public and large
chimpanzee welfare organizations. These organizations state that not
only do chimpanzees suffer emotional and physical pain while in
captivity, but the public suffers as well by paying taxes that might
ultimately fund expensive medical research involving chimps. To keep
one chimpanzee for a year can cost as much at $10,000.Just think of
how much you could help the conservation of wild chimps in Africa
with that much money! Luckily, there has been legislation passed in
European countries to completely stop the use of chimps in research
and even, in countries such as Spain, grant them laws similar to
human rights.
The United
States was not too far behind in granting a similar Chimp Act in
2000, which was signed by president Clinton. However, the act did
not call for the immediate stop of all chimpanzee research.
Hopefully someday this will be the direction we will be heading in.
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Message from CAC'ers
We learned in Mahale and Gombe about how
endangered chimpanzees truly are. It seems amazing to us
that the United States is the only country that can still
justify using an endangered species in research to advance
the human race. It made us very sad to know chimpanzees were
still being used in research, especially when we know that
there is technology that could take the place of chimps in
research.
Smaller test subjects, such as mice, may
someday be able to replace the need for chimpanzees in
research. It is now known that 80% of human genes have
identical counterparts in mice, but 99% of genes in mice and
humans are comparable.
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