The Facts About Primate Experimentation
Primate experimentation in the U.S. is out of control. The system which is
supposed to regulate the use of primates is utterly ineffective. We cannot
say with any real degree of accuracy how many primates are experimented on
because the USDA cannot force laboratories to report animal use
accurately, or even to report at all. Recently, the number of labs who did
not report their experimental animal use has been as high as 128. In
fiscal 1998 Harvard under-reported their primate use by over 1200. During
the same year Yale under-reported their primate use by 95.
Statistics based on data published by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicate that primate experimentation in
the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 52,000 of our
closest relatives suffering & dying in laboratory experiments every year.
As many as another 43,000 primates are imprisoned for breeding purposes.
Many different species of primates including macaque monkeys, squirrel
monkeys, baboons, and chimpanzees are experimented on in many different
ways. Macaque monkeys are used most often, with baboons second and
squirrel monkeys third.
Isolation is severely stressful to primates. In fact, 10%
of isolated primates are so severely stressed that they begin to engage in
self-injurious behavior. Many different psychological experiments also
stress primates severely. Documentation from the University of Wisconsin
(UW), Madison indicates that 1/3 of the primates that die within UW
facilities are suffering from digestive tract pathologies which may have
been brought on by stress.
Many diseases and conditions plague the primates that are
held captive within laboratories, such as: pneumonia, encephalitis,
hepatitis, and gastric bloat.
Common experimental practices include depriving primates of food or water
so that these things become effective rewards. In some instances, the
primates may receive water for only an hour or two per day, or are
deprived of as much as 20% of their regular food intake.
The use of primate restraint chairs is also common, with
confinement reaching as much as 104 consecutive hours. These devices are
highly stressful for normally active and mobile primates. In brain mapping
experiments many devices are literally bolted onto the skulls of primates,
and electrodes are fed directly into the brain. Intravenous catheters are
surgically implanted in experiments with addictive drugs. These devices
can lead to serious infections, and other potentially fatal conditions.
Most primates are not used in experiments that study the diseases that
kill most Americans. Projects that study primate psychology, alcohol &
addictive drugs, brain-mapping, and sex in primates far outnumber studies
involving heart disease or cancer.
Repetition is rampant among NIH-funded projects. Currently,
187 NIH projects study neural information processing in macaque monkeys.
These useless experiments waste over $56 million in federal tax dollars
every year. Many of these projects continue on for decades wasting
millions of tax dollars each year and victimizing primates for an entire
What you can do to help:
1. Read, copy, and distribute this fact sheet.
2. Write to your federal legislators to request a General Accounting
Office (GAO) investigation of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded
The Honorable____________ 202-234-3121
U.S. House of Representatives www.house.gov
Washington, D.C. 20515
Senator __________________ 202-234-3121
U.S. Senate www.senate.gov
Washington, D.C. 20510
3. Send as large a tax-deductible donation as you can afford to Stop
Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) to support this campaign.
Downloadable PDF Version