US National Institutes of Health to stop testing on chimpanzees

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is stopping all testing on chimpanzees, according to a report on Nature.

NIH director Francis Collins announced that 50 chimps owned by NIH would be sent to sanctuaries while plans are being developed to phase out support for chimps that are owned by facilities that NIH support.

In 2013, 310 chimps were retired, though 50 “reserve” chimps were kept in for research in special cases like public health emergencies.

In June 2015, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) granted endangered species protection for research chimps. This meant that scientists could only stress the chimps if the research would benefit chimps in the wild.

“I think this is the natural next step of what has been a very thoughtful five-year process of trying to come to terms with the benefits and risks of trying to perform research with these very special animals,” Collins told Nature. “We reached a point where in that five years the need for research has essentially shrunk to zero.” —Bea Montenegro/KG, GMA News