retirement. NIH advisers say several studies on chimpanzees should end.
Frans de Waal / Emory University
A working group advising the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research chimpanzees today insisted for the agency strongly backs scale biomedical and behavioral studies involving these animals. NIH should remove most of the nearly 700 chimpanzees it supports, many end research projects, and make sure that chimpanzees still being investigated are kept in appropriate living conditions, the panel report said.
If NIH follows through on the report "it is clear that there will be a reduction in the use of chimpanzees in research," said veterinary researcher KC Kent Lloyd of the University of California, Davis, who chaired the working group of the Council NIH advice to journalists. "I do not think it will be to the detriment of progress in research."
The report of 84 pages today is a response to a 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) in December which found that most research on chimpanzees was unnecessary. the working group today, part of the NIH Council of councils, was asked by the NIH Director Francis Collins NIH to help implement the report of the IOM, which laid out specific criteria for when the chimpanzee studies are warranted. for example, such a study should take place only if it could not be done ethically in humans or another animal model and if chimpanzees have been kept in a ethologically appropriate environment.
having reviewed 22 research studies funded by NIH using chimpanzees, the working group found that half must be stopped. This includes six new biomedical projects using 81 of the 93 chimpanzees in these studies; Only three of these projects, all involving infectious or immunology, should continue. The working group also recommended to end five 13 comparative genomics and behavioral studies using 10 of about 300 animals. NIH continue to fund seven of eight additional projects to support care chimpanzee colonies; some overlap with the research.
Other projects could continue if they are modified to meet new criteria for living conditions outlined in the report. For example, each chimp must have at least 1000 feet of outdoor space square and live with no less than six other animals.
The Working Group also examined the number of NIH chimpanzees now owns or supports. This includes 451 chimpanzees in research facilities or research reserve and 219 in the chimpanzee retirement home. NIH should withdraw most research chimpanzees and reduce its research provides a single colony of 50 chimpanzees in just 5 years, concluded the working group. Behavioral and genetic studies involving more animals could be done in a non-traditional research framework such as sanctuaries or zoos, suggested the neurologist co-chair working group Daniel Geschwind of the University of California, Los Angeles.
The group also established new criteria for the approval of future projects. The proposals approved by the scientific reviewers should go before a new, yet to be created, independent NIH oversight committee that weigh on whether the project complies with the IOM principles.
Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal research issues for the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, DC, welcomed the report. "We are very pleased ... and we hope that the NIH will advance to implement the recommendations. I think they largely reflect what the public has been demanding," she said.
The full Council of Councils voted 13 -0 to accept the report. Collins will now open a comment period of 60 days on the report, then decide to accept it, probably at the end of March, said James Anderson, NIH Associate Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and initiatives strategic.
One issue is how NIH will pay for the costs of chimpanzee retirement. In 00, Congress capped how the agency can spend on building and care in sanctuaries federal chimpanzees to $ 30 million, an NIH limit will reach this summer. "It is a concern and something we would have to be discussed at the Congress," said Anderson
Fixed January 24 :. This entry declared that the working group recommended ending five studies using 20 chimpanzees of 13 comparative studies of genomics using 300 chimpanzees. These five studies use 10 chimpanzees
* Correction, 2:40 p.m. , January 29th. the article incorrectly stated the NIH spending that Congress has capped the sanctuaries of federal chimpanzees to $ 30 million per year. the ceiling is the amount accumulated since 00 .
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