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| The HSUS Chimps Deserve Better Campaign seeks to end the invasive use of chimpanzees in research. © iStock.com |
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1955
One year after The HSUS was founded, the organization publishes the first issue of its magazine, with a lead story on the fight to relieve the suffering of laboratory animals.
1958
HSUS reports concerning shipments of monkeys—dead, dying and mutilated—coming through a New York City airport persuade the Indian government to adopt stricter guidelines for transportation and care.
1961
The HSUS releases a statistical study documenting the overuse of animals in published experiments and promoting ways to reduce animal numbers.
The HSUS sponsors and supports its first federal bill on laboratory animal usage.
1963
HSUS Board member Cleveland Amory's article in the Saturday Evening Post levels a serious indictment of laboratory animal care in the United States.
1966
A raid on a dog dealer's premises by an HSUS agent and Maryland State Police, illustrated in a Life magazine story, plays a significant role in the enactment of Public Law 89–544, Federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act (LAWA)—which affects animals used in research, including primates.
1976-1978
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Nonhuman primates used in research can be subjected to a wide array of invasive procedures, some of which cause severe pain and distress. © iStock.com |
The HSUS begins hiring scientific/medical professionals and forms the Institute for the Study of Animal Problems (ISAP) to address technical issues in animal welfare.
1980
ISAP holds a symposium on "Non-human Primate Use and Husbandry in Biomedical Facilities."
1981
HSUS staff testifies at a federal hearing deliberating proposed legislation to improve the Animal Welfare Act and alternative methods of research.
HSUS staff member, Dr. Michael Fox, serves as a veterinary expert for what is now known as the "Silver Spring monkey case", following an undercover investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in a primate lab in Silver Spring, Maryland. This case drew nationwide attention to the welfare of primates used in research.
1984
HSUS staff member, Dr. John McArdle, serves as an expert in a case involving the use of baboons in head injury research. This case also drew nationwide attention to the welfare of primates used in research, helping to support ongoing legislative efforts.
1985
The Dole-Brown amendments to the Animal Welfare Act are signed into law after years of work by HSUS board member Robert Welborn and HSUS staff. One provision calls for promotion of the psychological well-being of nonhuman primates.
1986
At the annual HSUS conference, The HSUS holds a pre-conference symposium on primate issues, including the use of primates in research.
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There are currently more than 100,000 priomates in U.S. research labs. Macaques are the most frequently used primate in research. © iStock.com |
Late 1980s through early 1990s
The HSUS works with renowned primatologist Jane Goodall to secure a Congressional prohibition on the National Institutes of Health using any research funds for experiments on chimpanzees taken from the wild.
The HSUS plays a major role in pressuring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue regulations under the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act.
After the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act are passed, The HSUS convenes a symposium of key players and policy makers to work out consensus recommendations on psychological well-being of primates.
1992
The HSUS files an administrative petition with the USDA, urging the agency to issue meaningful annual reports on the use of animals in research, and we continue to push this issue.
1996
The HSUS's criticism of NASA's BION mission, which sent monkeys into space, helps lead Congress to reevaluate its funding of this inhumane and wasteful project, which was terminated a year later.
1998
The HSUS launches the Pain and Distress Initiative, with the goal of eliminating pain and distress in animal experimentation.
1999
The HSUS, together with representatives of animal protection, zoo, sanctuary, and laboratory research communities, lobbies the Federal government to provide funds for the retirement of surplus laboratory chimpanzees.
The HSUS submits formal comments to the United States Department of Agriculture in response to a draft policy statement regarding the environment enhancement for nonhuman primates.
2000
The HSUS works with federal legislators to pass the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (CHIMP) Act, which establishes a national sanctuary system for chimpanzees no longer used in biomedical research. This is the first time that an animal used in research has received this level of recognition by the government.
2002
The HSUS's efforts to end the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research receives a boost when we elicit a statement from an influential NIH official acknowledging that he could foresee the day when such research ended.
2004
The HSUS sponsors Workshop on the Definition, Recognition and Alleviation of Animal Distress Operational Definition of Distress
2005
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| Nearly 70,000 primates were used in research in 2008. © iStock.com |
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At the 5th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal use in the Life Sciences, The HSUS, along with other international animal protection groups and Jane Goodall, puts forth a resolution to end the use of primates in biomedical research and testing. In the Resolution governments, regulators, industry, scientists and research funders worldwide are urged to accept the need to end primate use as a legitimate and essential goal; to make achieving this goal a high priority; and to work together to facilitate this.
The HSUS submits comments to the National Institutes of Health in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding standards of care for chimpanzees within the national chimpanzee sanctuary system.
2006
The HSUS submits comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service opposing a permit requested by Yerkes National Primate Research Center which would allow Yerkes to donate money to conservation programs for wild sooty mangabeys in exchange for permission to conduct invasive research on members of this endangered species housed at their facility. Yerkes subsequently withdraws their permit request.
The HSUS submits appropriations testimony to the Senate and House requesting that no government money be spent on the breeding of chimpanzees for research purposes.
The HSUS runs a full-page ad in the New York Times under the title "Shouldn't Science Do Better?," noting that 40 years had passed since passage of the Animal Welfare Act and that much remained to be done to address public concerns about the use of animals in research, testing, and education.
The HSUS runs a second full-page advertisement in the New York Times under the title "How Could We?" calling attention to the plight of chimpanzees in U.S. labs and HSUS efforts to end harmful experimentation on them.
2007
The National Center for Research Resources of NIH announces its decision to make the breeding moratorium on federally-owned chimpanzees permanent. This decision came after NCRR receives over 22,000 emails from HSUS supporters asking that they make the moratorium permanent.
The HSUS officially launches its Chimps Deserve Better Campaign which seeks to end the use of chimpanzees in invasive research and retire them to appropriate sanctuaries.
The HSUS sends a letter to Nepalese ambassador regarding plans to trap and breed monkeys in Nepal and export them to two primate research facilities in the United States.
The HSUS submits appropriations testimony to the House and Senate requesting that no government money be spent on the breeding of chimpanzees for research purposes.
The HSUS works with legislators to introduce The Animal Welfare Accountability Improvement Act, which, among other things, would increase fines for research institutions that violate the Animal Welfare Act. The increased penalty provision is passed as part of the Farm Bill.
2008
The HSUS works with a bipartisan team of legislators in the House to introduce The Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 5852). The bill aimed to end invasive research on the over 1000 chimpanzees remaining in laboratories, retire the approximately 600 federally-owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuary, and make the recent decision by the National Center for Research Resources—to stop funding the breeding of federally-owned chimpanzees statutory.
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The U.S. is the only developed country in the world that continues to use chimpanzees in invasive resarch. © iStock.com |
The HSUS leads a groundbreaking symposium at the International Primatological Society Meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland regarding the use of great apes in invasive research.
The HSUS submits appropriations testimony to the House and Senate asking that no federal money be spent on the breeding of chimpanzees for research purposes. In addition, The HSUS requests that no chimpanzee owned by the federal government be sold to private entities.
Updated Feb. 19, 2009
