Countries banning non-human ape experimentation

Last updated

This is a list of countries banning non-human ape experimentation. The term non-human ape here refers to all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, excluding Homo sapiens . Banning in this case refers to the enactment of formal decrees prohibiting experimentation on non-human apes, though often with exceptions for extreme scenarios. [lower-alpha 1]

Contents

Experimentation on great apes—a smaller family within the ape superfamily—is currently banned in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand (29 countries total). [1] These countries have ruled that chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans are so cognitively similar to humans that using them as test subjects is unethical. [2] [3] Austria is the only country in the world to have completely banned experiments on all apes, including both the great apes and the lesser apes, commonly known as gibbons. [4]

Table of countries banning all non-human ape experimentation

CountryDateLawStatuteRefs
Austria 2012Animal Experiments Act 2012 [lower-alpha 2] An animal experiment is in any case unlawful if the animal experiment is on any species and subspecies of the chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ), bonobos ( Pan paniscus ) and gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla spp), and on any species and subspecies of the families orangutans ( Pongo [lower-alpha 3] ) and gibbons ( Hylobatidae ). [lower-alpha 4] [5] [6] [7]

Table of countries banning non-human great ape experimentation

CountryYearTitleStatuteRefs
European Union Member States 2013 EU Directive 2010/63/EU The use of great apes, as the closest species to human beings with the most advanced social and behavioural skills, should be permitted only for the purposes of research aimed at the preservation of those species and where action in relation to a life-threatening, debilitating condition endangering human beings is warranted, and no other species or alternative method would suffice in order to achieve the aims of the procedure. The Member State claiming such a need should provide information necessary for the commission to take a decision. [8]
New Zealand 1999 Animal Welfare Act 1999 No person may carry out any research, testing, or teaching involving the use of a non-human hominid unless such use has first been approved by the Director-General and the research, testing, or teaching is carried out in accordance with any conditions imposed by the Director-General.

The Director-General must not give approval unless he or she is satisfied that the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching is in the best interests of the non-human hominid; or that the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching is in the interests of the species to which the non-human hominid belongs and that the benefits to be derived from the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching are not outweighed by the likely harm to the non-human hominid.

 [9]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ E.g. EU Directive 2010/63/EU allows for experimentation on great apes only for "the preservation of those species and where action in relation to a life-threatening, debilitating condition endangering human beings is warranted, and no other species or alternative method would suffice in order to achieve the aims of the procedure."
  2. ↑ Original German: "Tierversuchsgesetz 2012"
  3. ↑ Pongidae is an obsolete taxon, encompassing all the mentioned apes. Probably Pongo was meant.
  4. ↑ Original German: "Ein Tierversuch ist jedenfalls unzulässig, wenn der Tierversuch an allen Arten und Unterarten der Schimpansen (Pan troglodytes), Bonobos (Pan paniscus) und Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla spp), sowie an allen Arten und Unterarten der Familien Orang Utans (Pongidae) und Gibbons (Hylobatidae)"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimpanzee</span> Great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa

The chimpanzee, also simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is thus humans' closest living relative. The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair, but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–70 kg (88–154 lb) for males and 27–50 kg (60–110 lb) for females and standing 150 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homininae</span> Subfamily of mammals

Homininae, also called "African hominids" or "African apes", is a subfamily of Hominidae. It includes two tribes, with their extant as well as extinct species: 1) the tribe Hominini ―and 2) the tribe Gorillini (gorillas). Alternatively, the genus Pan is sometimes considered to belong to its own third tribe, Panini. Homininae comprises all hominids that arose after orangutans split from the line of great apes. The Homininae cladogram has three main branches, which lead to gorillas and to humans and chimpanzees. There are two living species of Panina and two living species of gorillas, but only one extant human species. Traces of extinct Homo species, including Homo floresiensis have been found with dates as recent as 40,000 years ago. Organisms in this subfamily are described as hominine or hominines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonobo</span> Species of great ape

The bonobo, also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. While bonobos are, today, recognized as a distinct species in their own right, they were initially thought to be a subspecies of Pan troglodytes, due to the physical similarities between the two species. Taxonomically, members of the chimpanzee/bonobo subtribe Panina—composed entirely by the genus Pan—are collectively termed panins.

<i>Pan</i> (genus) Genus of African great apes

The genus Pan consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins. The two species were formerly collectively called "chimpanzees" or "chimps"; if bonobos were recognized as a separate group at all, they were referred to as "pygmy" or "gracile chimpanzees". Together with humans, gorillas, and orangutans they are part of the family Hominidae. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, chimpanzees and bonobos are currently both found in the Congo jungle, while only the chimpanzee is also found further north in West Africa. Both species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and in 2017 the Convention on Migratory Species selected the chimpanzee for special protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great ape personhood</span> Extending personhood to nonhuman great apes

Great ape personhood is a movement to extend personhood and some legal protections to the non-human members of the great ape family: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ape</span> Branch of primates

Apes are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, which together with its sister group Cercopithecidae form the catarrhine clade, cladistically making them monkeys. Apes do not have tails due to a mutation of the TBXT gene. In traditional and non-scientific use, the term ape can include tailless primates taxonomically considered Cercopithecidae, and is thus not equivalent to the scientific taxon Hominoidea. There are two extant branches of the superfamily Hominoidea: the gibbons, or lesser apes; and the hominids, or great apes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twycross Zoo</span> English animal park specialising in primates

Twycross Zoo is a medium to large zoo near Norton Juxta Twycross, Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Ape Project</span> International organization

The Great Ape Project (GAP), founded in 1993, is an international organization of primatologists, anthropologists, ethicists, and others who advocate a United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes that would confer basic legal rights on non-human great apes: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanzi</span> Bonobo research subject

Kanzi, also known by the lexigram , is a male bonobo who has been the subject of several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo throughout his life, Kanzi has exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great ape language</span> Efforts to teach non-human primates to communicate with humans

Research into great ape language has involved teaching chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans to communicate with humans and each other using sign language, physical tokens, lexigrams, and imitative human speech. Some primatologists argue that the use of these communication methods indicate primate "language" ability, though this depends on one's definition of language. The cognitive tradeoff hypothesis suggests that human language skills evolved at the expense of the short-term and working memory capabilities observed in other hominids.

The humanzee is a hypothetical hybrid of chimpanzee and human, thus a form of human–animal hybrid. Serious attempts to create such a hybrid were made by Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov in the 1920s, and possibly by researchers in China in the 1960s, though neither succeeded.

The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organization founded in 1973 in Thailand by Shirley McGreal.

The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is a UNEP and UNESCO-led World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Type II Partnership, established in 2001, that aims to conserve the non-human great apes and their habitats—primarily forested tropical ecosystems that provide important services to humanity, through pro-poor conservation and sustainable development strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing on non-human primates</span> Experimentation using other primate animals

Experiments involving non-human primates (NHPs) include toxicity testing for medical and non-medical substances; studies of infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis; neurological studies; behavior and cognition; reproduction; genetics; and xenotransplantation. Around 65,000 NHPs are used every year in the United States, and around 7,000 across the European Union. Most are purpose-bred, while some are caught in the wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

The wildlife of the Democratic Republic of the Congo includes its flora and fauna, comprising a large biodiversity in rainforests, seasonally flooded forests and grasslands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hominidae</span> Family of primates

The Hominidae, whose members are known as the great apes or hominids, are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: Pongo ; Gorilla ; Pan ; and Homo, of which only modern humans remain.

Rise for Animals is a national, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rights organization which aims to end nonhuman animal experimentation. It has been described as "one of the oldest and wealthiest anti-vivisection organizations in the United States".

International Primate Day, September 1, is an annual educational observance event organized since 2005 largely by British-based Animal Defenders International (ADI) and supported annually by various primate-oriented advocacy organizations, speaks for all higher and lower primates, typically endorsing humane agendas where primates are at risk, as in research institutions or species endangerment in precarious environmental situations.

Simone Susanne Pika is a German ethologist and primatologist investigating the evolution and development of language, cognition and plasticity by focusing on distinct model systems such as corvids, great apes, monkeys and dolphins. Since 2017, she co-directs the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, Loango National Park in Gabon. She is a full professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabrück University, Germany.

References

  1. ↑ "International Bans | Laws | Release & Restitution for Chimpanzees". releasechimps.org. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  2. ↑ Knight, Andrew (2008-06-02). "The beginning of the end for chimpanzee experiments?". Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 3 (1): 16. doi: 10.1186/1747-5341-3-16 . ISSN   1747-5341. PMC   2432070 . PMID   18518999.
  3. ↑ Benz-Schwarzburg, Judith; Knight, Andrew (2011). "Cognitive Relatives yet Moral Strangers?". Journal of Animal Ethics. 1 (1): 9–36. doi:10.5406/janimalethics.1.1.0009. ISSN   2156-5414. JSTOR   10.5406/janimalethics.1.1.0009. S2CID   54677954.
  4. ↑ "ANIMAL RESEARCH AMENDMENT (PRIMATES) BILL - Mark Pearson MLC - Mark Pearson". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  5. ↑ "RIS - Tierversuchsgesetz 2012 - Bundesrecht konsolidiert, Fassung vom 08.11.2019". www.ris.bka.gv.at. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  6. ↑ "Austria Bans Experiments on Great Apes | Related News | News". www.releasechimps.org. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  7. ↑ "Austria | World Animal Protection". api.worldanimalprotection.org. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  8. ↑ "DIRECTIVE 2010/63/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL".
  9. ↑ "Animal Welfare Act 1999 No 142 (as at 08 September 2018), Public Act 85 Restrictions on use of non-human hominids – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.