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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2011
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THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com
I M M I G R AT I O N
States seek to postpone action on new laws By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press
AP FILE PHOTOS
In this July 30, 1999 photo, Keeli, a Chimpanzee living at the Ohio State University animal laboratory, looks out from his play room, in Columbus, Ohio. A prestigious scientific group told the U.S. government Thursday that chimpanzees should hardly ever be used for medical research. The Institute of Medicine stopped short of recommending the outright ban that animal rights activists had pushed. Instead, it urged strict limits that would make invasive experiments with chimps essentially a last resort, saying today’s more advanced research tools mean the primates’ use only rarely will be necessary enough to outweigh the moral costs.
U.S. to use chimps less often for research
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ness to humans — the genome is about 99 percent identical to ours — has long caused a quandary, making the animals valuable to medical researchers for nearly a century but also sparking ethical and emotional questions about how they are housed and used. “They are highly intelligent. They live in complex social settings, and they live for a very long time,” said evolutionary anthropologist Anne Pusey of Duke University, who once worked with chimp expert Jane Goodall in Tanzania and manages an archive of Goodall’s field data on the animals. “When you enclose a chimp in a very small cage for 50 years, it really is cruel and unusual, even regardless of whether you’re doing invasive things to them,” she added. The U.S. is one of only two countries known to still conduct medical research with chimpanzees; the other is Gabon, in Africa. The European Union essentially banned such research last year. Thursday’s decision was triggered by an uproar last year over the fate of 186 semiretired research chimps that the NIH, to save money, planned to move from a New Mexico facility to an active research lab in Texas. They are staying put for now. The Institute of Medicine’s investigation found over the past 10 years, the NIH has paid for just 110 projects of any type that involved chimps. Most involved hepatitis C, a liver virus that infects only humans and chimps. Some involved HIV, a disease that scientists now know is better to study in rhesus monkeys. Still others involved comparing the genetics of chimps and humans, or behavioral research examining such things as development and mental health. The institute recommended two different sets of re-
In this Jan. 31, 1961 photo, Ham, the first higher primate launched into outer space, is comforted by an unidentified man on the deck of a rescue ship after the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
strictions. Biomedical research — testing new drugs or giving chimps a disease — should allow using the apes only if studies could not be done on other animals or people themselves, and if foregoing the work would hinder progress against life-threatening or debilitating conditions. The panel said behavioral and genetic research, while less controversial, nonetheless should be limited to studies that provide insights otherwise unattainable, using techniques that minimize any pain or distress. The institute combed research files to see what types
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settings, and now alternative methods have been developed that will make their use all but obsolete,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United By LAURAN NEERGAARD States. AP Medical Writer But some scientists say it’s WASHINGTON — Days in not that big a change because the laboratory are numbered chimp studies already were for chimpanzees, humans’ dwindling fast as researchers turned to less costly and ethclosest relative. Chimps paved astronauts’ ically charged alternatives. “The use of a chimpanzee in way into space and were vital in creating some important biomedical research is the medicines. But the govern- rare exception,” said Dr. Thomas Rowell, ment said Thursday that who directs science has advanced These apes’ Louisiana’s enough that from now on, genetic closeNew Iberia Rechimpanzees essentially search Center, should be a last resort in ness to humans medical research — a — the genome is one of five research centers move that puts the Unit- about 99 perhouses ed States more in line cent identical to that chimps and othwith the rest of the world. er primate speChimps’ similarity ours — has long cies used in with people “demands caused a quangovernspecial consideration and dary, making the both ment- and prirespect,” said Dr. Francis animals valuable vately financed Collins, director of the studies. National Institutes of to medical reIt’s not clear Health. searchers for how His move came after nearly a century exactly many of the nathe prestigious Institute of Medicine declared that but also sparking tion’s 937 remost use of chimpanzees ethical and emo- search chimps — 612 of them for invasive medical re- tional questions owned by the search no longer can be about how they NIH — are in justified — and that strict the midst of exnew limits should deter- are housed and periments that mine which experiments used. would be affectare important enough to ed by the new outweigh the moral cost of involving this species that standards and could be moved into retirement instead. Most is so like us. “The bar is very high,” said of the chimps are fairly old, as bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn of the nation has had a moratoriJohns Hopkins University, um on breeding since 1995. But Collins temporarily who led the institute panel. The group stopped short of barred new government-fundrecommending an outright ed studies involving chimps ban, saying a handful of re- as his agency began implesearch projects today might menting the recommended restill require chimps — but strictions. Also, a working more importantly, that the group will decide whether to animals might be required in phase out about 37 ongoing the future as new diseases projects, about half of which Collins said probably don’t evolve and emerge. Animal welfare groups wel- meet the new standards. These apes’ genetic closecomed the change but continue to push for Congress to pass legislation that would go a step further and phase out SUSPENDED CEILINGS all invasive chimp research. 12x14’ Ceiling “Chimpanzees have providFor As Little As $439 ed limited value in research Price Includes Material & Labor
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Government says science has advanced enough that chimps should be a last resort.
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of projects would fit those strict criteria — and could come up with only a handful, such as a possible need to test vaccines against hepatitis C in the animals. But the panel concluded chimps aren’t needed to study cancer or a host of other diseases or even to test most drugs. The standards wouldn’t automatically apply to privately funded pharmaceutical research, although the industry, too, is shifting away from use of chimps. One drug company, GlaxoSmithKline, adopted an official policy ending its use of great apes, including chimpanzees, in research.
ATLANTA — After the U.S. Supreme Court this week agreed to rule on Arizona’s controversial law targeting illegal immigrants, some states with similar statutes asked Thursday for delayed legal action on their laws pending the high court’s decision. The Supreme Court said Monday it would review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked parts of the Arizona law. One part requires that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person’s immigration status if officers suspect the person is in the country illegally. The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law, arguing that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states. Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also face lawsuits filed by both the federal government and activist groups. Civil liberties and immigrant rights groups are suing over immigration measures adopted in Georgia and Indiana. Alabama and Georgia on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to delay court hearings on the challenges set for early next year before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals. South Carolina asked that its law be allowed to take effect. “It is clear that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona’s case will be relevant to the 11th Circuit’s consideration of our appeal,” said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange echoed his sentiments and added his support for Arizona. “Alabama has supported Arizona in its legal effort from the beginning, and Alabama will continue to vigorously support Arizona as the case moves to the Supreme Court,” he said. Sam Brooke, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is one of the parties challenging the law, said the organization’s reaction to the motions by Alabama and Georgia is divided. The law in Alabama “is continuing to cause havoc in our state because several provisions have been permitted to go into effect, and are in effect today. We oppose any request that these harms be permitted to continue, and oppose Alabama’s request for a stay,” he said. “Since the parts we challenged are enjoined in Georgia, we did not oppose the request for a stay by Georgia.” In South Carolina, Attorney General Alan Wilson requested that that state’s law be allowed to go into effect Jan. 1 as scheduled. Opponents have asked a federal judge to halt the law until legal challenges by activist groups and the federal government can be resolved. A hearing for a preliminary injunction blocking the law is set for Monday. “A ruling by the Supreme Court in Arizona is likely to resolve most or all of the issues” in the South Carolina case, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson wrote in the motion. He added it “would be an understatement” to say the issues before the high court are of importance to the South Carolina case. Lawyers involved in the South Carolina case said they opposed delaying action.
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