Pharmaceutical industry Merck & Co. is joining dozens of other companies and laboratories that have pledged to no longer use chimpanzees in research. Merck, which is the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world , was also the largest to make the change so far, according to the information provided by  Motley Fool and  Associated Press .

The increasing trend may mean that about a thousand chimpanzees in the United States , who are exploited for research and imprisoned for years in laboratory cages,  may be ” retired ” and sent to sanctuaries by 2020.

This is Kathleen Conlee’s opinion , of the Humane Society , who began a work  seven years ago for companies to ban any research involving the use of these animals. This movement was driven by technological advances, new and substitutive methods and the pressure of  animal rights groups towards National Institute of Health (NIH ) and the U.S. Congress.

In June last year, in response to a study by the Institute of Medicine called for by Congress that concluded that all research done on chimpanzees is unnecessary, NIH announced that it would retire and forward approximately 90% of chimpanzees owned by the state to research to sanctuary Chimp Haven, in Keithville (Louisiana). The site currently houses about 160 chimpanzees, and 60 more are expected to arrive soon.

After many years , NIH plans to decide whether the remaining approximate 450 chimpanzees in government laboratories may also be removed to sanctuaries . “The attempt to stop the use of these primates in research has been a long journey, and we are now at a turning point,” Conlee said to Associated Press.  We will continue working until all chimpanzees in laboratories are transferred to sanctuaries,” she concluded.

Caroline Lappetito, spokesman for Merck, said the company – based in Whitehouse Station ( New Jersey) – decided last year to stop doing research with chimpanzees and use alternative forms . “Science has advanced, and we really do not need it ,” said Lappetito.

Companies that produce medicines and consumer products like cosmetics have always used animals to test claiming “safety” and “efficacy”. In the case of experimental drugs, the producers of drugs have to test them  in test animals before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits testing them in humans.

Practically all experiments on animals in the United States involves mice, rats and guinea India, although some use dogs and apes, in this case, almost always chimpanzees.

But this type of research has long drawn criticism from advocates’ animal rights groups, including protests outside of laboratories and the annual meeting of shareholders. In addition to denouncing the inhuman practice, the activists alleged and proved that the animals were being abused.

Many companies argue that it is necessary to test potential drugs and vaccines in nonhuman primates because they need an animal with a very similar anatomy to people . This thinking has changed as technology advanced and allowed researchers to apply initial tests via computer simulations, in bacteria or cells .

The British company GlaxoSmithKline PLC was the first to stop doing research on chimpanzees in 2008. “The research we did on them was minimal, even before that ,” said spokeswoman Melinda Stubee.

Since chimpanzees used for commercial medical research are generally confined in companies contracted by laboratories,  Conlee said Humane Society is trying to convince these companies that there will be no sufficient demand to justify continue holding these animals for future work. She expects them to contribute financially to send the chimps at any one of the five Americans sanctuaries that house primates who were explored in research.

Chimps: a new life, retirement – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cpUnUUQF3o