The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies
should be congratulated for its thoughtful conclusions
concerning the use of chimpanzees in a range of NIH research
projects. After a careful and in-depth study of the issue, the
IOM last month issued a report entitled “Chimpanzees in
Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity.”
The IOM stated, “given that chimpanzees are so closely related
to humans and share similar behavioral traits, the National
Institutes of Health should allow their use as subjects in
biomedical research only under stringent conditions including
the absence of any other suitable model and inability to
ethically perform the research on people … In addition, use of
these animals should be permissible only if forgoing their use
will prevent or significantly hinder advances necessary to
prevent or treat life-threatening or debilitating conditions …
Based on these criteria, chimpanzees are not necessary for most
biomedical research.” The IOM goes on to point out