U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
NIH Office of the Director <http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/>
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 27, 2013
CONTACT: John Burklow, <e-mail:burklowj@xxxxxxxxxx>
STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT’S SIGNING OF BILL THAT ENABLES NIH TO RETIRE RESEARCH CHIMPS
With an immense sense of gratitude, I applaud today’s action by President Barack Obama that will enable the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to retire most of our research chimpanzees.
Americans have benefitted greatly from chimpanzees’ service to biomedical research, but new scientific methods and technologies have rendered their use in research largely unnecessary. Consequently, it is now time to move most of the NIH-owned chimpanzees to the federal sanctuary system. Profound thanks are due to the bipartisan effort in both the House and Senate that made it possible for this legislation to be passed and sent to the White House. By signing into law Senate Bill 252 (S. 252), the President has provided us with the means to fund the care of all NIH-owned and supported chimpanzees -- including those that are retired -- over the next five years.
Specifically, S. 252 contains amendments approved by both the Senate and House that removes the spending cap set forth in The Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection (CHIMP) Act. With the funding roadblock removed, NIH can move forward with our previously stated plans to transfer all but 50 of its 347 research chimpanzees into the federal sanctuary system, which currently consists only of Chimp Haven in Keithville, LA. The remaining animals will be maintained, but not bred, for possible future research that is consistent with the principles set forth by the Institute of Medicine’s 2011 report on the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research. Another 208 chimpanzees owned by NIH are already retired and are housed at Chimp Haven or scheduled to move there when new construction is completed early next year.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, National Institutes of Health
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RELATED LINKS:
Statement from the White House: Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 1848, H.R. 3204, S. 252, November 27, 2013
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/27/statement-press-secretary-hr-1848-hr-3204-s-252>
NIH News Release: NIH to reduce significantly the use of chimpanzees in research, June 26, 2013.
<http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2013/od-26.htm>
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