R&R Project

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R.1513/S.810) has been re-introduced in the 112th Congress! The bill has the leadership of Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) as well as 42 cosponsors already signed on in the U.S. House and Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in the U.S. Senate. The bill will end the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research and retire all federally owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuary.

While other countries have already passed laws that limit or prohibit research on chimpanzees, the United States is the only remaining country in the world with a large population of chimpanzees – about one thousand – held captive in its laboratories for use in research. An end to U.S. use of chimpanzees—and all great apes—in research will mark the first time any nonhuman species is not allowed to be used in experimentation in the United States.

A bill that guaranteed the retirement of the chimpanzees had been approved during Cliton Government, but an amendment was signed in the last minute and gave permission to NIH (National Health Institute, which keeps the chimpanzees) to decide if they should be used or not in invasive experiments, if the institution found out this was necessary.

During the last Congressional session, the Great Ape Protection Act (GAPA) had 161 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and six cosponsors in the Senate. Project R&R works hand in hand with scientists, world renowned chimpanzee experts, founders of chimpanzee sanctuaries, as well as with other leading national and international organizations.

At the website of R&R Project there is a direct link to a letter to be signed and sent to the Congress members, as a way to pressure for the bill to be approved as soon as possible. Enter the site, sign the letter and collaborate to 1000 innocent beings do not suffer anymore.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian
President, GAP Project International

More information: http://www.releasechimps.org/mission/change-laws/the-great-ape-protection-act/#axzz1JQS495Dl