A National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratory performing experiments on monkeys could soon be the target of an investigation, launched by Congress. Four legislators have written a letter to the federal agency, requesting they examine practices occurring at their facility.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claim that researchers are separating macaque monkeys from their mothers, and subjecting the animals to painful and stressful tests, to test their reactions.
"The National Institutes of Health intentionally traumatizes baby monkeys by tearing them away from their mothers at birth, scaring them with loud noises and fake snakes, and addicting them to alcohol - all to the tune of tens of millions of tax dollars," PETA officials wrote in an ad designed to raise awareness of the issue.
These controversial experiments are being conducted by researchers from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The NIH lab is located in Poolesville, Maryland.
Representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Sam Farr (D-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Dina Titus (D-NV) signed the letter, which was addressed to Francis Collins, who heads the NIH.
"Prominent experts - including Dr. Jane Goodall, whose groundbreaking work on primate behavior was honored by Congress 2010 - have raised questions about the scientific and ethical justification of these particular experiments," the letter read.
Members of Congress are requesting that NIH conduct a bioethics consultation of the experiments and report on their findings by February 27, 2015. In the letter, the representatives wrote that they had been contacted by constituents, who heard of the story in the media. According to Justin Goodman of PETA, the experiments "have never improved human health." The group also claims that modern research methods, not involving animals, are capable of new discoveries without cruelty.
The program has been in place since 1983, and is currently approved to continue through the year 2017. Researchers at the facility carrying out the experiments claim their work models conditions similar to those found in nature.
"...[R]esearch investigates how rhesus monkeys and other non-human primate species born and raised under different laboratory conditions adapt to placement into environments that model specific features of their natural habitat," managers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development stated.
Managers at PETA claim their advertising campaign designed to raise awareness of the issue resulted in 150,000 phone calls and emails to Congress, calling for an end to the program.
