United Stops Flying Medical-Research Primates

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals reports that United Airlines has made the decision to stop flying any primates to medical research laboratories. The new policy, posted on United’s website, clearly states that the company will no longer “book, accept or transport primates to or from medical research facilities.” The airline joins Air China in ending flights for monkeys and chimpanzees, typically shipped as cargo in poor conditions. Primates are either bred in laboratories or found in the wild and transported to medical facilities in the US to be tested on for pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and brain experiments. The United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian reports that one in 10 research projects that involve primates does not provide useful scientific information.