Billy Jo after decades in a lab, enjoyed eight years in sanctuary at Fauna and was loved and respected by all who knew him. Billy died February 14, 2006 at the age of only 37. He and others are our inspiration to change laws NOW.
Photo: © Fauna Foundation

Project R&R’s goal is to end the use of chimpanzees in U.S. research.

We work to educate the public; change existing laws, policies, and practices; and enact new laws for improved protection of chimpanzees while they remain in U.S. labs.

The Great Ape Protection Act – H.R.5852

On April 17, 2008, U.S. Representatives Edolphus Towns (D-NY), David Reichert (R-WA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) introduced H.R.5852, The Great Ape Protection Act, to end invasive biomedical research and testing on an estimated 1200 chimpanzees remaining in U.S. laboratories. The bill would also retire approximately 600 federally owned chimpanzees currently in laboratories – many for more than 40 years – to permanent sanctuary.

Project R&R works hand in hand with scientists, world renowned chimpanzee experts, founders of chimpanzee sanctuaries, and with other leading national and international organizations. Project R&R is currently focused on passing H.R.5852, The Great Ape Protection Act, that will end the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research. To learn more about and how you can help pass H.R.5852, The Great Ape Protection Act, click here.

While several other countries have already passed laws that limit or prohibit research on chimpanzees, the United States is the only remaining large-scale user of chimpanzees in research in the world. An end to U.S. use of chimpanzees – and all great apes – in research will mark the first time any nonhuman species is not allowed to be used in experimentation in the United States.

A sample of Project R&R’s past policy work includes testimony on:

Existing Laws: The CHIMP Act

The Good News

The passage of the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act (widely known as the CHIMP Act) in 2000 was an important achievement in many ways, setting a stage for what now needs to be done to give all chimpanzees full protection from research.

The CHIMP Act prohibited the euthanasia of chimpanzees for anything other than humane health reasons. As such, it is the first law to prohibit the killing of any nonhuman species in a laboratory for the convenience of the lab.

It also established a federally-funded “retirement” system for chimpanzees that are so-called “surplus” and deemed no longer needed for research. Some 141 former research chimpanzees have now been retired into the federal facility (Chimp Haven).

The CHIMP Act, as now written has major and limiting flaws including:

• no criteria for which chimpanzees should be considered for “retirement”
• total lab discretion as to when they are considered for “retirement”

Though ground-breaking, the CHIMP Act’s deficiencies leave its ability to help chimpanzees limited. H.R.5852, The Great Ape Protection Act, would, however, require the retirement of all federally owned chimpanzees.

Timeline of Protections for U.S. Chimpanzees

April 17, 2008: H.R.5852, The Great Ape Protection Act, introduced in the House of Representatives by Towns, Reichert, Langevin and Bartlett.

December 2007: An amendment to the Chimpanzee Health, Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (CHIMP) Act provides permanent retirement to chimpanzees determined as no longer needed for research.

May 2007: The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health permanently ended federal funding for breeding chimpanzees.

April 2006: Project R&R, a campaign of the 113 year old New England Anti-Vivisection Society, formally launched in Atlanta, Georgia, home to the first dedicated chimpanzee laboratory. In 2007, The HSUS formally launched its Chimps Deserve Better Campaign.

April 2005: The federally funded national sanctuary system took in its first chimpanzee residents, adding to the hundreds of chimpanzees already retired in privately funded sanctuaries in the U.S. and Canada.

December 2000: The CHIMP Act, created a federally funded national sanctuary system for chimpanzees retired from research and prohibiting killing them as a matter of convenience to laboratories.

Facts:

• Of the estimated 1,200 chimpanzees in nine U.S. laboratories, approximately half are government owned or supported.
• The government spends $20 – 25 million per year on care of chimps in labs. The lifetime care of one chimpanzee is $300,000 – $500,000.
• Approximately 150 chimps have been retired to the federally funded national chimpanzee sanctuary system. Approximately 500 more from U.S. research, including military, air and space research, reside at private sanctuaries in North America.

Worldwide condemnation

Austria, United Kingdom, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Balearic Islands, and Japan – have passed laws to limit or ban chimpanzee research. Project R&R supports efforts around the world to pass similar legislation.

Even in countries where chimpanzee research is not practiced, legislating outright bans show solidarity for ending chimpanzee research worldwide and in particular, in the U.S.

If you live outside of the U.S., please show your support to end chimpanzee research in the U.S. by signing Project R&R’s Worldwide Solidarity Petition. Help us show U.S. legislators that there is a world movement that condemns experimenting on our closest relatives. Contact Project R&R for more information.

Sign up for Project R&R e-news to find out how you can help secure permanent protection for all chimpanzees.

Read more about the CHIMP Act.

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