Why is it Unethical to use Chimpanzees in the Laboratory?

Abstract

Chimpanzees are more like humans than any other living beings, differing in the composition of their DNA by just over one per cent. There are striking similarities in the anatomy and wiring of the chimpanzee and human brains and central nervous systems. Thus, it should not be surprising to find that there are also striking similarities in the social behaviour, emotional needs and expressions, and cognitive abilities of chimpanzees and humans. These similarities have become increasingly apparent during the last 15 years. Chimpanzees in the wild develop close affectionate bonds between family members that may persist throughout their lifetime of 50 years or more, and examples of true altruism, when individuals protect or even save the lives of non-related companions. Chimpanzees use many objects as tools, and tool-using behaviours differ from place to place across their range. Indeed, there are a number of behaviours that vary between different groups — evidence of cultural traditions passed from one generation to the next through observational learning and imitation. Thus, chimpanzees have a very special relationship with humans. A healthy adult chimpanzee is more similar to a healthy adult human in the expression of the intellect than a brain-damaged human, yet in many medical research facilities, chimpanzees are maintained in bleak, bare cages measuring only 5’ x 5’ x 7'. They may remain in these prisons for life. We do not treat hardened human killers so badly in our society today—there would be a public outcry if we did. I feel strongly that the use of a being so like us, as a human guinea-pig, is not morally justified, and to that end the Jane Goodall Institute has been involved in three workshops with the aim of clarifying the extent to which they are seen to be useful in diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS research. There is no consensus among scientists regarding their usefulness at the present time. If the proposed experiments of transplanting chimpanzee bone marrow tissue into AIDS patients go ahead in the Netherlands, it will be a sad blow for chimpanzee liberation. The attitude of those who believe that any use of non-human primates can be justified provided it results in some benefit, or expected benefit, to humankind, is of precisely the same mind set as that which once allowed us to exploit human beings of another race and use them as slaves. Once we admit that chimpanzees have minds and feelings, are capable of sadness, fear and despair, are able to feel pain, show altruism, and are capable of communicating with each other and with humans in a man-made language, we have to ask serious questions, initially of ourselves, as to whether we should continue to use them in medical research.