Animal welfare groups hail reported move by CDC to phase out all monkey research

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is phasing out research conducted on monkeys, according to a new report.

Scientists routinely use rhesus and pig-tailed macaques, housed at the headquarters of the CDC in Atlanta, to study infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

The agency’s decision ends studies conducted on nearly 200 macaques, but the fate of the captive monkeys remains unclear, Science Magazine reports.

The move comes as several federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration are shifting away from conducting studies on non-human primates. They are instead investing in research on chip-based systems simulating human biology and lab-grown human organs.

Animal welfare groups welcomed the CDC decision, calling it a major development in finding ethical alternatives.

“A top science agency recognising the massive expense of acquiring and using primates, the poor results for human predictivity, and the moral concerns about the use of these cognitively complex animals is a landmark development,” Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for A Humane Economy, said. “This is a seismic development in the realm of research science.”

Janine McCarthy, acting director of research policy at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, called the decision “historic”.

“For the first time, a U.S. agency is choosing modern, human-relevant science over a failed system of monkey experiments,” Dr McCarthy said.

“Now, the CDC should use that funding to transition to human-relevant research and to ensure that these monkeys are sent to sanctuaries for the remainder of their lives.”

The decision also comes amid growing public outrage over monkey experimentation, thrust into the spotlight by incidents of primates escaping from research facilities.

The U.S. alone has reported over a dozen incidents of lab monkeys escaping in the last two decades, raising concerns about the risk of diseases spreading to first responders and surrounding communities.

Some scientists, however, expressed concern about the fate of ongoing studies involving monkeys in view of the CDC decision.

They pointed out that CDC studies on monkeys had been crucial in developing prophylaxis and preventive medicines for HIV.

“It’s a huge loss for the HIV field,” Deborah Fuller from the Washington National Primate Research Center told Science Magazine. “There are no real alternatives.”