help chimps
The issue of experimentation on chimps is one that breaks my heart. They are so close to us. And even if they weren't, they are amazing beings.
One way in which they are not similar to humans, however, is disease expression. Evidence has shown that when medications are tested on chimps, the results are not repeated in human subjects. For example, a drug that controlled HIV in chimps failed to do so in humans. So why are laboratories still performing cruel tests on these sensitive, emotional beings? Some scientists once thought that chimps made ideal test subjects because their genome is similar to the human genome, but evidence is mounting that chimps just don't react to medications the same way humans do.
Ethical considerations aside, it just doesn't make sense for the medical community to continue spending huge amounts of money torturing chimps.
How You Can Help
Support The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R. 1513/S. 810) by writing to your representatives. Here is a summary of what the bill entails:
- Phase out the use of chimpanzees in invasive research in both federally funded and private laboratories
- Release the more than 500 federally owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries
- Prohibit future breeding of chimpanzees for purposes of conducting invasive research
Let's all promise to write a letter this month. Strength in numbers! Consider this kind act your holiday gift to all the great apes in captivity.
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Photo Credit: Chimp Sanctuary
10 comments
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Thanks so much for spreading the word on behalf of chimpanzees. Here's a post I wrote a while back for my Animals & the Law blog. http://bit.ly/pV2MfB
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Hi ! i am from Barcelona (Spain ) and i am very happy to see that people are really doing something for careiyng chimps. I share with you a link of a Sanctuary of chimps here in Catalonia, and they are helping chimps that they come from tv shows or simply they come from people who buy them. Well sorry for my english, i know is not the best.
Here you are the link: http://www.fundacionmona.org
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Hey everyone,
Here's an article from Scientific American about eliminating chimp research. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ban-chimp-testing
Please also be sure to help the monkeys by supporting nonprofit organizations like Primates, Inc., that are working on providing a primate sanctuary for monkeys retired from scientific research.
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Hi Aliica,
Thanks for bringing this serious issue to the world's notice. Chimps belong in the wild and not in research labs. We are proud to join in the effort by having a post about your initiative on our website.
http://greenlichen.com/2011/12/alicia-silverstone-urges-humankind-to-help-take-chimps-out-of-research-labs/
Cheers -
definitely going to send a letter. thanks for bring this idea to my attention!
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Thank you for informing us of this awful situation -- I'm going to spread the word and do what I can to help as well.
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It's truly heartbreaking to hear that these innocent animals are being tortured. Thanks for sharing ways on how we can help. I'm definitely going to spread the word on this and get involved.
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I just wrote to my Representative and two Senators in Massachusetts. It's amazing how much money is wasted, and more importantly, how little regard is given to living beings, just because they're not human. It disgusts me. Let's hope this goes through!
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