Time to end US chimp studies

摘要

As a physician, medical educator and former animal researcher, I agree that the US national discussion of chimpanzee experimentation should go beyond simple husbandry issues (Nature 474, 252; 2011). For ethical and scientific reasons, it is time for the United States to join other developed countries in ending invasive experiments on chimpanzees. We now know a great deal about the awareness, intelligence and emotional responses of chimpanzees. Scientists from my organization, for example, have found that invasive experiments on chimpanzees can induce symptoms of depression, anxiety and compulsive behaviours that are similar to mood and anxiety disorders seen in traumatized humans (H. R. Ferdowsian et al. PLoS ON£6.el9855:2011).