Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research Report

Council of Councils Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research Report, January 2013

  • “This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in National Institutes of Health (NIH)-Supported Research. The NIH formed this committee within the Council of Councils, a federal advisory committee, to advise the NIH on the implementation of the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) Committee on the Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research regarding the use of chimpanzees in NIH-sponsored research. In December 2010, the NIH asked the IOM to review the current use of chimpanzees in NIH-funded biomedical and behavioral research that is needed to advance the public’s health. The IOM committee focused its efforts on the nearly 700 chimpanzees owned or otherwise supported by the NIH. In December 2011, the IOM committee completed its review, concluding that although the chimpanzee has been a valuable animal model in the past, most current biomedical use of chimpanzees is unnecessary. At the same time, the IOM committee concluded that chimpanzees could still serve an important role in some areas of research but in these areas, the research must be governed by a set of principles and criteria. These principles and criteria address the necessity of the research for answering important public health questions, the need to use the chimpanzee model to answer these questions, and whether the chimpanzee-housing and the research conditions are appropriate for humans’ closest relative.”
  • Sorry, comments are closed for this post.