Bones Star Urges Waxman to Help Chimps

The only thing...

The only thing about this is that her letter really only states her side of the matter, it doesn't really cover the other half. How else are you supposed to go about doing medical research. Unless you just want to nix medical research altogether, there really is no other way to go about it. I mean yeah it's a tough situation to be in when you want to see everybody and everything living peacefully. But sadly this world isn't peaceful. I mean we have people killing other people in the name of their God, we have people starting wars, children starving to death, people being forced into wars. When you look at the bigger picture, Chimp research is not the number one issue.

I mean I'd like to know what her idea of an alternative would be? I mean I'm all for offering up a few sleazy politicians to have the research done on, but there's too many laws to have to go around.

Honestly, I don't see how there's another way and I've read most of these comments but they don't really offer up an alternative. I think it's great that Emily wants to do something wonderful for these chimps, I don't think it's really great to have to use animals or humans for research, but there's really no other way. You can't win everything, but hey, at least she's trying. I have to commend her on that at least.

really?

"When I see a petition of the top 1000 medical research scientists in the fields of immunology, neuroscience, infection diseases and virology saying that we no longer need to use chimps, then I'll change my mind."

What makes you think scientists are qualified to decide a moral issue? I'd like 1000 ethics professors to weigh in.

we need them

I just don't understand the ignorance of people here. Um, you do realize that we do use people in medical reearch. It's called clinical research trials. But they do that only after things have been tried on animals.

People are great at volunteering others to be tested on (prisoners, criminals, rapists, fellow commenters) but I yet to see anyone actually volunteering themselves. Interesting.

It's a tough issue, but personally, I still think unless you are gonna volunteer your own body for research, we need to test on animals.

Using chimps is a tough issue, but if the medical research community says we need to use them (oh, and Jane Goodall is a freaking anthropologist, not a medical scientist), then I think we need to keep using them. When I see a petition of the top 1000 medical research scientists in the fields of immunology, neuroscience, infection diseases and virology saying that we no longer need to use chimps, then I'll change my mind.

Proposing Question to Sarah:

Responding to your claims, "when so many renowned scientists renounce animal testing..." May you please list a few? I remain unconvinced Jane Goodall presents an unbiased view of medicine. If I correctly understand, her background resides in behavioural research, no? This field of practice inherently and vastly differs from medical practices and researches.

I am not aware with which medical scientists who agree with you. Pointing to the contrary, it is evident majority in the medical community agrees with benefits of these kinds of researches - for that I am thankful.

chimpanzees frfeedom

i dont understand how any one can be for the cruel and pointless testing on animals that scientists do in the name of finding a cure for human diseases.

we have no right to pass our suffering on to animals in the hope of decreasing it for ourselves. that is morally wrong no matter how you look at it.

when so many renowned scientists renounce animal testing, why do we still insist upon using it? i think its because we are too afraid of change, of looking for new and improved and less cruel ways to test drugs. instead we place that burden on our closest relatives.

its not about saying animals are more important than humans. its about seeing that animals are due our respect and have no obligation to be ours to do with as we please.

Chimpanzee experiments stalled AIDS treatment progress

I've lost dear friends to AIDS, so I have been deeply concerned about related research. It is clear to me that experiments on chimpanzees have actually been a significant obstacle to progress in fighting this horrible disease. Chimpanzees have been used in research for HIV/AIDS for 25 years, and we still don't have an effective HIV vaccine. More than 80 HIV vaccines have seemed effective in chimpanzees--but not one has proven effective in human trials. For example, human trials of a Merck vaccine that seemed very promising in nonhuman primates were suspended in 2007 after it became clear that the vaccine actually INCREASED the risk of infection. We even know that HIV infection does not actually cause AIDS in chimpanzees. This is a dead end that wastes money and causes a lot of suffering to no good purpose.

Absolutely stunned at the level of ignorance here

I am asking myself why some of these super-moral posters don't volunteer for clinical research studies. There must be a reason. I'm also stunned that someone would suggest we conduct basic research on prisoners! Does nobody remember the horrible Tuskegee syphilis study??? I'm fairly certain that the majority of people in our society would disagree with that view, otherwise it would be happening.

Genomics, Hepatitis, cancer research, HIV research, Malaria research, RSV research - all have benefited from chimpanzees. I don't know. Maybe the posters here don't have any children they care about, or maybe they think animals are more important than people. Clearly, Emily's publicist hasn't given this issue much thought.

Chimp Research

I applaud Ms. Deschanel for using her celebrity status to implore her congressman to support this bill. We have sophisticated equipment and intelligent scientists in this country. Science can advance without cruelty to animals. These chimpanzees have paid their dues and deserve to live out the rest of their lives with their own kind doing what THEY want to do for a change. Relax, spend time in the trees, and be with other chimps. We call ourselves a civilized nation yet this type of thing continues. It's disgraceful and cruel. Renowned scientists have stated chimpanzees make poor models for human research. What more needs to be said?

Chimp Research

There are many people who are uneducated about the real facts surrounding chimpanzee research. I'm glad that Emily Deschanel has taken a stand against this practice and is asking her Congressman to state a position on this issue. Instead of bashing her for being a well known person we should embrace the fact that Deschanel is putting a face to this cause. If you care about anyone, even if it's just yourself, you should be apposed to great ape research. They have proven time and time again to be poor models for human research. We shouldn't look to them to solve our problems because they are not human. There are still major differences in the immune system that prevent them for being effective models of human disease. Chimps in research are used because they are so genetically similar but scientists are failing to see the similarities that make this practice so immoral.

I think everyone should follow Deschanels lead and write their congressman as well.

The Irony of Biomedical Research

One of the ironies of using animals for biomedical research is that a preponderance of our diseases come from people eating and abusing animals: madcow, diabetes, heart disease, swine flu, and on and on. Maybe nature is trying to tell us something!

One does not have to be an expert to recognize cruelty. It is never acceptable. I applaud Ms. Deschanel for using her celebrity to stop suffering.