Bones Star Urges Waxman to Help Chimps

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practice surgery on animals was outlawed in england years ago. 95% of u.s. medical schools no longer offer animal lab. animal research has never been validated (pcrm.org). go to pcrm.org see, scientific fact sheet.. "work on prevention of polio was LONG DELAYED by an erroneous conception of the nature of the human disease based on MISLEADING experimental models of the disease in monkeys" albert sabin, m.d., during a 1984 house subcommittee. STILL no aids vaccine, ect.. mrmcmed.org "currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory animal studies" said health and human services secretary mike leavitt. uk, nz, netherlands, sweded, austria, have all BANED experiments on chimpanzees. belgium bands experments on great apes (in 2008). uk bands licences for experiments on chimpanzees (1997). "animal studies are done for LEGAL REASONS and not for scientific reasons. the predictive value of such studies for man is MEANINGLESS" 1964 james gallagher, medical director of lederle laboritories (uk). if a car dealor jokingly said to you, we must 1st do research on a lawn-mower engine would that make sense to you?.... I CANT believe how GULLIBLE some people are.. every year charities (reform march of dimes.org) spend 100s of millions of dollars on animal research. STILL no cure, how many more millions (billions?!) before they stop being so GULLIBLE.... "there is a laundry list of problems with mouse models of cancer research" dr.bob weinburg, director of the ludwig center for cancer research at m.i.t. over 200 charities no longer fund animal research (humaneseal.org).

4mula1 of MI 3:22PM September 07, 2011

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.

Ella Jayne of TN 12:54PM July 17, 2009

"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.

stivee of MI 1:12AM July 12, 2009

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.

Tracy of NY 10:32AM July 01, 2009

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.

Claudio of NY 3:45PM June 30, 2009

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.

sarah 11:39PM June 28, 2009

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.

John F of CA 2:13PM June 26, 2009

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.

Lauren of WA 1:32PM June 26, 2009

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?

Theresa of AL 10:18AM June 26, 2009

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.

Julie of WA 5:30PM June 25, 2009