Ending Research on Chimpanzees

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act was introduced to Congress yesterday with support from The Humane Society of the United States. Backed by senators of both parties, the bill would phase out invasive testing and research on around 1,000 chimpanzees and retire around 500 currently in US laboratories. “The [bill] is a common-sense reform to end the needless pain of psychological harm to one of the animal kingdom’s most highly developed animals,” says Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). Currently, 80 to 90 percent of chimpanzees in US laboratories are not even used in research, but simply warehoused at taxpayers’ expense; nearly $30 million could be saved each year by passing this act.