The Humane Society of the United States filed a shareholder resolution in November with Abbott Laboratories asking the company to produce a schedule for phasing out the use of chimpanzees in research and to publish the schedule online.
"Socially responsible investors are becoming increasingly concerned with the use of chimpanzees for harmful research," says Kathleen Conlee, director of program management for Animal Research Issues at The HSUS. "The chimpanzee model has failed time and again, and there are alternatives available. It is time for companies like Abbott to end chimpanzee research and embrace alternatives in the interest of human health and animal welfare."
A journal publication showed that Abbott Laboratories recently used chimpanzees in a hepatitis C virus inhibitor efficacy study. A recent review of the use of chimpanzees in HCV research published in the Journal of Medical Primatology showed that chimpanzees, unlike humans, often clear HCV infection on their own and don't develop chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis or liver cancer. Furthermore, the review showed that cellular studies of human immune responses to HCV infection as well as existing in vitro methods could provide ample opportunities for effective testing of treatments and vaccines.
A 2009 undercover investigation by The HSUS at the New Iberia Research Center
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