The Hill News

Invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees may soon draw to a close â€" this is the implication of a report released in December by the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine. This report, which focused on the use of chimpanzees for research from a scientific perspective, is an extremely welcome contribution to the national discussion. It declares that there are now very few scientific rationales for subjecting chimpanzees, our closest relatives, to the pain and suffering of invasive research.
 
As physicians, we are strong advocates for effective scientific research to improve human health. We applaud the far-reaching deliberations of the IOM committee, which advanced three important principles for evaluating whether or not further biomedical and behavioral research on chimpanzees should be performed: that the research is necessary for public health; that no other method can be used; and that any research on chimpanzees must sustain the animals in an enr! iched environment that meets the animals’ mental and physical needs.

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