Help The Great Apes Protection and Cost Saving Act Get Passed

Published May 8, 2012

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The Great Ape Protection and Cost Saving Act could help end experiments on chimpanzees and other great apes.

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Saving Act could help end experiments on chimpanzees and other great apes.

When I read a recent email from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), I was thrilled to learn that Bill Maher, the popular political satirist and host of the HBO show, “Real Time” told Congress, “It’s time to get real about ending invasive experiments on chimpanzees.”

Maher wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking him for his support in finally passing the Great Ape Protection and Cost Saving Act, saying, “Nearly 1,000 chimpanzees are locked in laboratory cages across our nation right now—many are elderly and have spent decades trapped behind bars. Most aren’t even being used in active protocols, because researchers have moved away from chimpanzee experiments after realizing how futile they are for predicting how treatments will affect human health,”

According to PCRM, these federally-funded great apes are locked away, deprived of companionship and other basic needs, in government-funded laboratories in the United States. Among the diseases with which they are infected are hepatitis and HIV.

After studying the scientific validity of experimenting on chimpanzees, The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded that "most current biomedical research use of chimpanzees is not necessary." The NAS report engendered the National Institutes of Health’s decision to suspend all funding for future chimpanzee experimentation.

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R.1513/S.810) was reintroduced to the 112th Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in April 2011. Unfortunately the bill has not yet been passed.

The legislation has the bi-partisan leadership of Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and Senators, Maria Cantwell, (D-WA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). H.R.1513/S.810 currently has 164 co-sponsors in the House and 15 co-sponsors in the Senate.

In addition to putting an end to the barbarous, inhumane and painfully invasive experimentation with which these chimpanzees have been needlessly forced to endure for many years, all future federally- funded great ape experimentation will be permanently abolished.

If this crucial legislation passes, it will give these great apes a major ray of hope for their future lives; chimpanzees will no longer be used for invasive biomedical research. All federally-owned chimpanzees will be retired to permanent sanctuaries, where they can live out the remainder of their lives in freedom and peace.

Get involved and help these amazing animals who are our closest relatives. Ask your members of Congress to help pass the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. For more information on how you can help, Visit The PCRM website.

To learn more about the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, watch the video uploaded to YouTube by PCRM.