WIKIMEDIA, IKIWANERThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) should scale back its research involving man’s closest cousin, according to recommendations released this week (January 22) by an agency working group. This would involve sending most of the agency’s chimpanzees to federal sanctuaries and shutting down as many as half of the ongoing chimp studies.
Following a December 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which found that the majority of chimp research was unnecessary, NIH Director Francis Collins tasked his agency with evaluating its own research, determining which of its studies met the IOM report’s criteria for justifying chimp research. The working group reviewed 22 NIH-funded chimp projects and determined that half of them should be terminated.
Some projects, the group concluded, can continue, but even many of those should be modified to create better living spaces for the chimpanzees. According to the report, the animals should live in groups no larger than seven, and each should have access to at least 1,000 square feet of outdoor space.
The group also encouraged the agency to retire most of ...
