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Retirement for Chimpanzees? Former president Clinton has signed into law a retirement program for chimpanzees that have participated in medical research. Many of the chimpanzees had been bred in anticipation of their use in HIV research, but have not been used because most chimpanzees do not get sick from HIV. As a result, current research facilities have about 1000 captive chimpanzees that can live as long as 60 years. The law provides funding to establish sanctuaries for the chimpanzees. While animal rights advocates supported the creation of the sanctuaries, the NIH has been concerned that the program will make it more difficult to use chimpanzees in medical research. The following links include media coverage of the bill, a press release from the White House, and the text of the bill. |