Tell the Government to Stop Funding Biomedical Research & Testing on Chimpanzees

The similarities between chimpanzees and humans are often touted as justification for using them as subjects for biomedical research and testing—but these are the very reasons why chimps should not be used. There is widespread evidence that chimpanzees experience a range of emotions, including depression, anxiety, pain, distress and empathy. These highly intelligent creatures also possess complex mental abilities such as self-conception, anticipation of future events, mathematical skills, tool use and acquisition of languages created by humans, such as American Sign Language. These complex cognitive abilities and emotions, as well as a lifespan of up to sixty years, make the confinement of chimpanzees in cages and their use in research for decades at a time ethically unacceptable and highly questionable on scientific grounds.

There are approximately 1,300 chimpanzees living in nine U.S. laboratories today. Chimpanzees could spend six decades of living in cages and being used in harmful research—and at taxpayer expense. You can help by urging the government to stop funding biomedical research on chimpanzees and to retire each and every one to a suitable sanctuary.

Urge Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt, to stop government funding for biomedical research and testing on chimpanzees.

Secretary Mike Leavitt
200 Independe Ave SW, RM 615 F 
Washington, DC 20201
202.690.7000
ml.05@hhs.gov

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