People have long been captivated by chimpanzees, seeing reflections of ourselves in the apes' brown eyes. Our well-known genetic kinship and the many long-term studies of wild chimps have shown that they are more like us than at first we even thought. These closest of cousins display emotions familiar to us all. They have remarkably complex social lives—with lifelong friendships and strong family devotion, as well as a marked ability to deceive other members of their groups—and can live more than 50 years. And they make and use tools—once thought to be the defining characteristic of humanity.

But chimpanzees have also long been captivated by people—literally. Today about 1,300 are held in U.S. research facilities. Many chimps—who forage together for miles each day in the wild—live alone in five-foot-wide cages with little to occupy their bright minds and nothing to look forward to. The lucky ones have social partners and live in larger enclosures, but even they remain behind bars as unwilling research subjects.

This is why we were delighted to hear a National Institutes of Health (NIH) senior official say in answer to our question at a conference last fall that he could foresee a time when chimpanzees are no longer used in research in the United States—in part, at least, because of strong public opinion. And while the NIH has no strategy to end chimpanzee research now, we are committed to stopping this abusive practice—we hope by 2005.

The claim that chimpanzees are vital for biomedical research to cure human diseases simply isn't valid. Many areas of chimpanzee testing duplicate other experimental approaches, and their use in AIDS research has proven unsuccessful. So phasing out chimpanzee experiments would have little impact on biomedical progress. In fact, the animals' suffering compromises the results of any type of research.

But that's not all. About 23 institutions received $20—30 million in federal funding for chimpanzee research in 2001 alone. The end of such research and the subsequent care of laboratory chimpanzees in sanctuaries will reduce that cost to just over $7 million per year—saving money that could be devoted to humane and effective research.

Congress has already recognized our obligation to care for chimpanzees retired from federally funded research by providing funding for the national sanctuary system established under the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (CHIMP) Act of 2000. But all laboratory chimps deserve protection.

We'll continue to urge the United States to join the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Sweden, and New Zealand in officially banning chimpanzee use in biomedical research. Every chimpanzee now living in a testing facility should be in a sanctuary, free from harm. It's simply the right thing to do for these sensitive, intelligent animals.

For more on chimpanzees used in research and what you can do to help end their suffering, visit www.hsus.org/research or call our Animal Research Issues staff at 202-452-1100.