When society is reduced to the point that the medical researchers of this world are hate mongered for using animals that could benefit human families ,we have lost our way. My family & my neighbors family can & have benefited from Primate research. Those researchers have unlocked doors that were blocked in the dark ages by not having the modern-day foundations of research which has been built & enhanced by primate research .
What is really sickening here is these legislators expect to be glorified for saving chimps and not continuing the search for the keys that would curtail human suffering?? Families of North America should be very sickened by the fact that their neighbor & own families health is less important than a Chimp.
US Senate bill to ban chimp research (Scienc Magazine)‏
09/08/2010
Science Magazine
Scientists Decry Proposed Ban on Chimp Research
by Jon Cohen
August 5, 2010
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/08/scientists-decry-proposed-ban-on.htmlIn the latest twist in the protracted debate over the use of
chimpanzees in biomedical research, U.S. senators on 3 August
introduced the Great Ape Protection Act, an identical bill to one that
has been stuck in a House of Representatives committee for more than a
year. The move comes on the heels of a letter sent by a who's who of
chimpanzee researchers to Francis Collins, director of the U.S.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), that sharply criticizes the bill,
warning that it "would put extreme and unreasonable restrictions on
future chimpanzee research."
The matching bill would ban invasive research on the estimated 1000
"research" chimpanzees in the country that live in laboratories. A key
issue is the definition of "invasive." The bill would explicitly bar
any research that "may cause death, bodily injury, pain, distress,
fear, injury or trauma."
When introducing the bill, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said that
about 1000 chimpanzees, half owned by the federal government,
"languish at great taxpayer expense in six research laboratories
across the nation." Cantwell, whose co-sponsors were Susan Collins
(R-ME) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), argued that the vast majority of
these chimps were "simply wasting away in these facilities" because
they were "poor research models for human illness, and they have been
of limited use in the study of human disease." She noted that no
country other than Gabon still allows invasive research with chimps.
"The United States is currently behind the rest of the world in
outlawing this sad practice." The Humane Society of the United States,
which helped draft the legislation, claimed in a press release that
chimpanzees have "historically failed as a research model."
In April 2010, 171 researchers sent a letter to Francis Collins
decrying the bill and expressing their "most profound concern about
the impending loss of chimpanzees." Their thoroughly referenced letter
includes a citation of Chimpanzees in Research, a report published by
the National Research Council in 1997 that advocated maintaining a
self-sustaining population of research chimps. The report also
concluded that chimp research "has led to numerous biomedical
advances, including the development of a vaccine for hepatitis B
virus."
The letter-signed by chimpanzee researchers from the most renowned
universities in the country-asserts that "human-chimpanzee comparisons
are essential for understanding the unique characteristics of human
biology." The letter further contends that recent chimp studies for
the first time have identified "unique features of the human brain and
have documented the unusual vulnerability of humans to a variety of
disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, infectious diseases, cancer,
and heart disease."
The letter does not argue for research that would cause chimpanzees
serious harm. Indeed, it focuses on what these researchers see as the
overly broad definition of the term "invasive," which they note would
prohibit taking blood from animals or using anesthesia. "Such
procedures are used routinely in humans; to ban them would create a
formidable obstacle to almost all studies of chimpanzees," they write.
Finally, they urge NIH to hold a public review of its current policy
not to support the breeding of research chimpanzees.
Collins did not reply; instead the researchers received a letter from
Margaret Snyder, who works in the Office of Extramural Research's
Division of Communications and Outreach. "I want to assure you that
NIH is committed to the continued use of chimpanzees in biomedical
research," Snyder wrote. "With out access to chimpanzees, vital
research could not be pursued which would jeopardize scientific
progress in several critical health areas."
The current House bill now has 148 cosponsors but has not moved out of
the Committee on Energy and Commerce since it was introduced in March
2009. (A similar bill introduced in 2008 died in committee.) It's
unclear whether the Senate bill will help give the stalled act
momentum.
snetwatchers2010@gmail.com Send e-mailFind e-mail
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Science Magazine
Scientists Decry Proposed Ban on Chimp Research
by Jon Cohen
August 5, 2010
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/08/scientists-decry-proposed-ban-on.htmln the latest twist in the protracted debate over the use of
chimpanzees in biomedical research, U.S. senators on 3 August
introduced the Great Ape Protection Act, an identical bill to one that
has been stuck in a House of Representatives committee for more than a
year. The move comes on the heels of a letter sent by a who's who of
chimpanzee researchers to Francis Collins, director of the U.S.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), that sharply criticizes the bill,
warning that it "would put extreme and unreasonable restrictions on
future chimpanzee research."
The matching bill would ban invasive research on the estimated 1000
"research" chimpanzees in the country that live in laboratories. A key
issue is the definition of "invasive." The bill would explicitly bar
any research that "may cause death, bodily injury, pain, distress,
fear, injury or trauma."
When introducing the bill, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said that
about 1000 chimpanzees, half owned by the federal government,
"languish at great taxpayer expense in six research laboratories
across the nation." Cantwell, whose co-sponsors were Susan Collins
(R-ME) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), argued that the vast majority of
these chimps were "simply wasting away in these facilities" because
they were "poor research models for human illness, and they have been
of limited use in the study of human disease." She noted that no
country other than Gabon still allows invasive research with chimps.
"The United States is currently behind the rest of the world in
outlawing this sad practice." The Humane Society of the United States,
which helped draft the legislation, claimed in a press release that
chimpanzees have "historically failed as a research model."
In April 2010, 171 researchers sent a letter to Francis Collins
decrying the bill and expressing their "most profound concern about
the impending loss of chimpanzees." Their thoroughly referenced letter
includes a citation of Chimpanzees in Research, a report published by
the National Research Council in 1997 that advocated maintaining a
self-sustaining population of research chimps. The report also
concluded that chimp research "has led to numerous biomedical
advances, including the development of a vaccine for hepatitis B
virus."
The letter-signed by chimpanzee researchers from the most renowned
universities in the country-asserts that "human-chimpanzee comparisons
are essential for understanding the unique characteristics of human
biology." The letter further contends that recent chimp studies for
the first time have identified "unique features of the human brain and
have documented the unusual vulnerability of humans to a variety of
disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, infectious diseases, cancer,
and heart disease."
The letter does not argue for research that would cause chimpanzees
serious harm. Indeed, it focuses on what these researchers see as the
overly broad definition of the term "invasive," which they note would
prohibit taking blood from animals or using anesthesia. "Such
procedures are used routinely in humans; to ban them would create a
formidable obstacle to almost all studies of chimpanzees," they write.
Finally, they urge NIH to hold a public review of its current policy
not to support the breeding of research chimpanzees.
Collins did not reply; instead the researchers received a letter from
Margaret Snyder, who works in the Office of Extramural Research's
Division of Communications and Outreach. "I want to assure you that
NIH is committed to the continued use of chimpanzees in biomedical
research," Snyder wrote. "With out access to chimpanzees, vital
research could not be pursued which would jeopardize scientific
progress in several critical health areas."
The current House bill now has 148 cosponsors but has not moved out of
the Committee on Energy and Commerce since it was introduced in March
2009. (A similar bill introduced in 2008 died in committee.) It's
unclear whether the Senate bill will help give the stalled act
momentum.