New US laws require that researchers treat chimpanzees in an ethologically appropriate manner, and several organizations say monkeys need the same rules

After succeeding in their quest to overhaul the treatment of chimpanzees used in research, animal rights advocates are turning their attention to other primates: the tens of thousands of monkeys now used in medical research in the United States.

The rules governing these animals’ welfare are minimal and outdated, says the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and are no longer consistent with what scientists now know about their needs and feelings.

“These animals are being kept in neglectful conditions,” said Carter Dillard, head of litigation at the fund. “The conditions do not reflect what the science shows these animals need. Without the standards we’ve asked for, these animals are suffering.”

The ALDF is one of several activist organizations, also including the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group and New England Anti-Vivisection Society, who in May petitioned the US department of agriculture (USDA) to reconsider how nonhuman primates are treated. The USDA is responsible for the Animal Welfare Act, the standards which guide the treatment of research animals, and agreed to hear the petition. They’re accepting public comments until 30 June, after which they’ll consider whether to improve the rules.

In their petition, the activists point to new National Institutes of Health requirements that researchers treat chimpanzees in what’s known as an ethologically appropriate manner: the basic social and physical conditions required by individuals of their species to be psychologically healthy.

Chimps might still be used in research, but rather than living in barren cages they deserve room to move and climb, opportunities to forage, objects to engage their interest and — most importantly — the company of others, the activists allege. They might not always be happy, but researchers should do their best to help.

Research monkeys wouldn’t get the same down-to-the-centimeter specifications as chimps, but the activists say the same principles ought to guide the monkeys’ treatment. They too deserve new standards designed with their psychological well-being in mind.

Present Animal Welfare Act requirements for monkeys are minimal. They’re often kept in small cages, juveniles are separated from their mothers at very young ages, and cages are frequently barren except for a plastic toy are two. It’s dramatically different from what they experience in the wild.

Moreover, what rules do exist are often poorly enforced – researchers who flagrantly mistreat monkeys are punished with bureaucratic slaps on the wrist.

The death by overheating of 32 monkeys at a Nevada laboratory, for example, merited just a $10,000 fine.

“The activists say the approach taken with chimpanzees is a good approach for all primates. I agree,” said Brian Hare, a Duke University anthropologist who’s worked with both chimps and monkeys. “We have a responsibility as researchers to do everything we can to limit suffering.”

It will likely be an uphill battle. The NIH’s chimp standards were the culmination of a years-long, often-controversial process. By the time the NIH made its decision, just 1,000 chimps were used in medical research, and much of that research wasn’t especially important to human health.

An estimated 112,000 monkeys are kept by US labs, and their medical value is considerable. Many researchers will view calls for improved welfare as a burdensome expense for labs already struggling to make ends meet, or a veiled attempt to end monkey experimentation altogether.

Kathleen Conlee, animal research director with the Humane Society of the United States, which filed a separate petition to the USDA that also included better standards for monkeys in zoos, said activists understand that monkey experiments are not about to end. “We’re not asking them to stop any research,” said Conlee. “This is about improving the monkeys’ care while they’re being used.”

Hare also hopes that activists and researchers can find common ground on the monkey’s welfare. “I’m not against invasive research, and I’m not against using animals in research to save human lives,” he said. “But the way to protect this research is to show compassion.”