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This report has been a long time coming, but is the right decision. theadvancedapes, I assume you see this as a positive development?
One recommendation for chimps is this: The environmental enrichment program developed for chimpanzees must provide relevant opportunities for choice and self-determination.
This is beautifully put. I am thinking what an environment providing choice and self-determination would mean for a chimp (and a human for that matter).
ButterflyEffect · 4519 days ago · link ·
I'm glad to see that we're moving away from using Chimpanzees. theadvancedapes, b_b, or anybody else: why did it take the United States so long to come to this conclusion? (I realize this is probably a very complex issue).
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Lots of competing interests on this issue. An organization to which I belong, the Society for Neuroscience, I believe opposed it originally. I don't know if they opposed it on the grounds that they still want chimps or if they think that if they take the chimps away, they'll come for the macaques next, then the rhesus, then the rats and mice eventually. Either way, I think its a black mark for them. Its not really morally defensible to do chimp research, IMO, even if it leads to some disease cures eventually.
I agree that this is the way to go. Although there are no viable replacements for some animal models, I can't think of many situations were chimpanzees can provide particularly valuable data. Ethical considerations aside, just getting a large enough group of chimps so that the statistics are valid is prohibitivly expensive.
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StephenBuckley · 4519 days ago · link ·
I think my favorite part of this post's title and your comment is I'm free to interpret this as though there are chimp scientists who just suck at research. Nothing directly flies in the face of that fun misunderstanding. Then my second favorite part is what's actually happening. Great move for NIH which has definitely been on the table for a while now.
theadvancedapes · 4519 days ago · link ·
Definitely, I'll give it a thorough read tonight and try and write something up about it.