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AirTalk

The Great Ape Protection Act

By AirTalk Staff
Published Aug 10, 2010
Wearing monkey masks while locked inside small cages and holding signs that read, 'No Tax $ for Animal Abuse,' and 'Stop Radiation Tests on Monkeys,' six PETA members protest outside the headquarters of NASA on November 19, 2009 in Washington, DC, over the agency's plan to subject as many as 28 squirrel monkeys to a massive dose of gamma radiation followed by a lifetime of additional laboratory experiments.
Wearing monkey masks while locked inside small cages and holding signs that read, 'No Tax $ for Animal Abuse,' and 'Stop Radiation Tests on Monkeys,' six PETA members protest outside the headquarters of NASA on November 19, 2009 in Washington, DC, over the agency's plan to subject as many as 28 squirrel monkeys to a massive dose of gamma radiation followed by a lifetime of additional laboratory experiments.
(
Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images
)
Listen 17:26
The Great Ape Protection Act
Approximately one thousand chimpanzees are currently housed in U.S. laboratories for use in medical research, at a cost to taxpayers of over $60 million a year. A bill recently introduced in the Senate, and an identical House bill from a year ago, would phase out invasive research and testing on these animals and retire them to sanctuaries. Not surprisingly, the bill has the support of the Humane Society and other animal rights advocates, who say the apes experience physical and psychological pain as a result of their confinement in labs. But a consortium of researchers opposes the ban. They maintain that chimpanzees serve as a critical research model for the development of vaccines for hepatitis, malaria, cancer and other diseases. Do the potential benefits to humans outweigh the well-being of animals? And should taxpayers support medical research that might induce harm to its subjects?

Approximately one thousand chimpanzees are currently housed in U.S. laboratories for use in medical research, at a cost to taxpayers of over $60 million a year. A bill recently introduced in the Senate, and an identical House bill from a year ago, would phase out invasive research and testing on these animals and retire them to sanctuaries. Not surprisingly, the bill has the support of the Humane Society and other animal rights advocates, who say the apes experience physical and psychological pain as a result of their confinement in labs. But a consortium of researchers opposes the ban. They maintain that chimpanzees serve as a critical research model for the development of vaccines for hepatitis, malaria, cancer and other diseases. Do the potential benefits to humans outweigh the well-being of animals? And should taxpayers support medical research that might induce harm to its subjects?

Guests:

William Talman, MD, President, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)

Kathleen Conlee, Director of Program Management, Animal Research Issues, The Humane Society of the United States