NIH Chimps Pushed Toward Retirement

A National Institutes of Health working group urges the agency to send most of its chimpanzees to a national sanctuary and halt half of the experiments involving such animals.

Written byJef Akst

| 2 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

2:00

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 ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member?

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Go to The Scientist's LinkedIn Page
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
View Full Profile