Approximately 1300 chimpanzees live in 9 laboratories around the United States. Internationally, the use of chimpanzees in research has declined over the last decade. However, chimpanzees continue to be used in harmful and invasive research in the United States. Aside from Japan, Liberia and Gabon, the United States is the only country that still uses chimpanzees in biomedical research—and has the largest collective chimpanzee colony for biomedical research in the world.
History of Chimpanzee Research in the United States
Chimpanzee research in the United States began in the 1920s when Robert M. Yerkes purchased a chimpanzee and a bonobo for his home-based laboratory. His research contributed to some of the first descriptions of chimpanzee behavior and intelligence and an understanding of their similarities to humans. Named after Robert Yerkes and located in Atlanta, Ga., Yerkes National Primate Research Center has since shifted its behavioral studies of chimpanzees to biomedical research, according to a 1995 analysis by the Committee on Animal Models in Biomedical Research.
In the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force established a chimpanzee breeding colony from wild-caught chimpanzees for research to determine the effects of space travel on humans, which included subjecting the chimps to extreme G forces and electric shocks as punishment during training. By the 1970s, the Air Force no longer used chimpanzees, but would lease them out to facilities for biomedical research. Around this time, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was adopted. CITES put severe restrictions on importing chimpanzees from the wild. As a result, a federally funded captive breeding program was established so that chimpanzees would be available to research.
Current Chimpanzee Use in Research and Testing in the United States
Since the 1980s, chimpanzees have been used in a variety of biomedical experiments and testing. It is estimated that as of 2006, about 1,300 chimpanzees live in U.S. laboratories, down from 1,800 in 1995.
They are most often used to study Hepatitis, though they are also used for researching cognitive and behavioral studies, gene therapy, respiratory viruses, vaccine development and drug testing. Chimpanzees are also used in HIV and AIDS research, despite findings that they are not good models for the disease. Experiments for some of these diseases can cause severe pain and distress for the chimpanzees involved. For instance, certain strains of HIV can cause weight loss, lethargy, diarrhea and even death for chimpanzees. Some hepatitis protocols call for several liver biopsies, frequent blood draws and major surgeries.
Besides the United States, only Gabon, Japan and Liberia currently allow biomedical research on chimpanzees. Scientists conducting research at Japanese universities have stopped invasive research on chimpanzees and are now pressing for a total ban. Several other countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and the Netherlands have banned or severely restricted the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research.
Maintenance and Housing of Chimpanzees in Research
The social nature of chimpanzees is important to consider when discussing chimpanzee maintenance and housing. In the wild, chimpanzees live in diverse social groups and travel several miles a day. However, in some research protocols, chimpanzees are forced to live alone in cages approximately the size of a small elevator. Individual housing of chimpanzees can cause depression, heightened aggression, frustration and even self-mutilation.
A 2001 public poll conducted by Zogby International found that 90 percent of Americans think the confinement of chimpanzees to these government-approved cages is unacceptable.
When chimpanzees are not being used in experiments, they are often housed in pairs or in social groups. However, if a chimpanzee is needed for research, she can be taken from her social group or companion for the duration of the experimental protocol. Whether chimpanzees are housed in social groups or not, it remains extremely difficult to meet the complex social and cognitive needs of chimpanzees in the laboratory setting.
Chimpanzee Intelligence and Emotion
Chimpanzees are extremely intelligent. Chimpanzees have been found to demonstrate cultural behaviors, including tool usage, grooming, and courtship behaviors. Chimpanzees also possess a wide variety of skills which demonstrate their intelligence. These include:
- counting abilities
- communicating through sign language and other human-created languages
- problem solving
- recognizing pictures and sounds of themselves, other chimps and humans
Chimpanzees are capable of a broad range of emotions. These include:
- depression
- anxiety
- pain
- distress
- empathy
- grief
Their intelligence and ability to experience emotions so similar to humans supports the argument that chimpanzees suffer under laboratory conditions.
The CHIMP Act and the U.S. Chimpanzee Sanctuary System
When chimpanzees were determined to be poor models for HIV and AIDS, it resulted in a "surplus" of chimpanzees in laboratories. Following a National Research Council report, an animal protection coalition that included The HSUS worked to ensure the passage of the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection Act. The CHIMP Act called for the establishment of a sanctuary where chimpanzees no longer needed for research could live out the rest of their lives.
In 2002, Chimp Haven, a nonprofit organization in Shreveport, La., was given the first government contract under the CHIMP Act to provide a sanctuary for chimpanzees. Chimp Haven completed the first phase of construction in April of 2005 and will ultimately be responsible for a maximum of 900 chimpanzees in the sanctuary system.
Ending Biomedical Research on Chimpanzees in the United States
Over the past 20 years, chimpanzee use in research and testing has declined. This is due in part to public pressure, undeniable similarities in emotions and intelligence between humans and chimpanzees, the high cost of keeping chimpanzees in laboratories and the determination that they are poor models for research.
That chimpanzees are so similar to humans is the basis for the ethical argument against their use in stressful, confining and painful biomedical research protocols. The HSUS will continue to work with legislators, researchers, animal welfare organizations and the public to put an end to the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and to ensure their placement into suitable, permanent sanctuaries.
What You Can Do
For more information about what you can do to help chimpanzees in research laboratories, visit our website at www.chimpsdeservebetter.org, contact the Chimps Deserve Better Campaign team at chimpsdeservebetter@hsus.org or write to:
Chimps Deserve Better Campaign
The HSUS
Animal Research Issues
2100 L St., NW
Washington, DC 20037
Updated Nov. 28, 2006
