Senate Committee Approves Great Ape Legislation

On July 25, the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved legislation S. 810, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, for consideration by the full Senate. The act proposes the end to invasive experiments on chimpanzees as well as retirement for federally owned chimps to a national sanctuary system set up by Congress years ago. The majority of the 950 chimps in US laboratories are confined to cages but are not being used in active experiments, all at taxpayer expense. Taxpayers will save an estimated $25 million—roughly a quarter billion dollars over the next decade—if the legislation passes.