Chimpanzees received additional rights
Biomedical research on chimpanzees banned in the US
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service equated chimpanzees born and raised in captivity to their wild relatives on June 12. Now they also fall under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, adopted by the US Congress in 1973, Nature reports.
The new legal status almost completely excludes any invasive (related to the introduction of substances or, conversely, taking tissue samples) studies on captive chimpanzees, which outlaws the absolute majority of biomedical experiments with them. The only exceptions are works that "can benefit the survival of the species in the wild."
A change in the legal regulation of the treatment of chimpanzees was proposed by the FWS back in 2013 to close the existing legislative loophole allowing laboratories to purchase captive-born chimpanzees for experiments. Now their import or export becomes illegal. Moreover, chimpanzees are forbidden to cause any damage, to exhaust, kill or injure. It is also prohibited to sell monkey blood, cell or tissue samples without special permission.
A number of scientists have taken the new restrictions critically. So, Executive Vice President of the National Association for Biomedical Research in Washington (DC) He stated that the current experiments on monkeys benefit both humans and chimpanzees equally, since they suffer from the same ailments. And most importantly, laboratory animals are specially raised in captivity for research purposes and have no connection with the declining population of chimpanzees in the wild.
Groups of animal rights activists, on the contrary, warmly supported the government initiative.
Invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees was radically reduced back in 2013, when the US National Institutes of Health reduced the number of laboratory chimpanzees from 300 individuals to 50. According to Nature, there are currently more than 700 chimpanzees in American laboratories, zoos and circuses.
In parallel, the Supreme Court of the State of New York is also considering a case, the essence of which is whether two chimpanzees from the University at Stony Brook are "persons" illegally deprived of liberty and forcibly held on campus. The court will issue its verdict in the coming month, and it will be of the nature of a precedent.
There are no separate legislation on chimpanzees in the European Union, but there is a general directive on the use of primates in scientific experiments. It came into force on January 1, 2013 and states that any experiments with primates are possible only if no other alternative exists. The use of great apes in experiments is possible due to an unexpected epidemic of a life-threatening disease or to help preserve the species. In some countries, for example, in Sweden, invasive experiments on primates are prohibited, but behavioral ones are allowed.
In Russia, the use of monkeys is limited, primarily for economic reasons. There is no legislative regulation of animal experiments. In 1999, the State Duma adopted the law "On the Protection of Animals from Cruel Treatment" and approved by the Federation Council, but it was rejected by the acting President of the Russian Federation. Article 10 of this law regulated the use of animals in scientific experiments, but did not prohibit them.
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16.06.2015