If Wayne Pacelle and company get their way these bills will eventually ban fruit fly research because fruit flies are more worthy of living then your mother.

Media Newswire
Federal Bill Introduced to End Invasive Research on Chimpanzees
2008-04-18
http://media-newswire.com/release_1063902.html

(Media-Newswire.com) - A bi-partisan group in Congress today
introduced The Great Ape Protection Act to end invasive research and
testing on an estimated 1,200 chimpanzees remaining in U.S.
laboratories. The bill would also retire approximately 600 federally
owned chimpanzees currently in laboratories ­ many for more than 40
years already ­ to permanent sanctuary. U.S. Representatives Edolphus
Towns ( D-N.Y. ), David Reichert ( R-Wash. ), Jim Langevin ( D-R.I. ),
and Roscoe Bartlett ( R-Md. ) introduced the legislation, along with
Bruce Braley ( D-Iowa ), Tom Allen ( D-Maine ), John Campbell (
R-Calif. ) and Mary Bono Mack ( R-Calif. ) also as original
cosponsors.

According to Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS, "The
remarkable cognitive ability of chimpanzees makes this an urgent moral
issue requiring immediate action in Congress."

Theodora Capaldo, EdD, president and executive director of NEAVS'
Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S.
Laboratories, added, "With passage of this bill, the United States
will join other scientifically advanced nations that have already
banned or severely limited the use of chimpanzees, and all great apes,
in research. It's the right thing to do. It's time."

"I have always been a strong supporter of animal protection," said
Representative Towns. "This legislation is an important step towards
protecting chimpanzees from inhumane treatment."

Representative Reichert added, "I'm excited to bring this bill to the
attention of the House with hopes of phasing out the inhumane and
unproductive practice of invasive research on great apes."

The bill is supported by The Humane Society of the United States and
NEAVS' Project R&R along with other organizations and world-renowned
chimpanzee experts and leaders. The HSUS Chimps Deserve Better
Campaign and NEAVS' Project R&R have spearheaded efforts to educate
the public about the use of chimpanzees in research and testing,
drawing unprecedented support for this bill not only from the public
but also from more than 300 scientists, physicians and educators.

The U.S. is the largest remaining user of chimpanzees in biomedical
research in the world. England, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands,
Austria and Japan have banned or limited their use. The cost to U.S.
taxpayers for chimpanzee research and maintenance is estimated at $20
– 25 million per year, money that many in the scientific community
believe could be allocated to more effective research.

"As a scientist who worked with chimpanzees on research projects, I
believe the time has come to limit invasive research on these animals
and rigorously apply existing alternatives," stated Representative
Bartlett.

Time is running out for chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories. An estimated
90 percent of them are considered elderly. A survey conducted in 2005
by an independent polling company found that 71 percent of the
American public agrees that chimpanzees held in a laboratory for 10
years or more should be retired and that Americans are twice as likely
to support a ban as to oppose it.

"I am so proud to be a sponsor of this legislation," said
Representative Langevin. "I am moved by the sophisticated social and
emotional capacity chimpanzees exhibit and believe we have an
obligation to do all we can to protect their welfare."

The HSUS and NEAVS' Project R&R are encouraged by the strong,
receptive support legislators are giving this bill.

Timeline

April 17, 2008: The Great Ape Protection Act introduced in the House
of Representatives by Representatives Towns, Reichert, Langevin and
Bartlett with four co-sponsors.

December 2007: An amendment to the Chimpanzee Health Improvement,
Maintenance and Protection ( CHIMP ) Act to provide permanent
retirement to chimpanzees determined to be no longer needed for
research passed Congress. President Bush signed it into law on
December 26, 2007.

October 2007: The HSUS launched its Chimps Deserve Better Campaign.

May 2007: The National Center for Research Resources of the National
Institutes of Health permanently ended funding for breeding of
government-owned chimpanzees for research.

April 2006: Project R&R, a campaign of the 113-year-old New England
Anti-Vivisection Society, launched in Atlanta, which is home to the
first dedicated chimpanzee laboratory.

April 2005: The federally funded national chimpanzee sanctuary system,
run by Chimp Haven, took in its first chimpanzee residents, adding to
the hundreds of chimpanzees already retired in privately funded
chimpanzee sanctuaries in the U.S. and Canada, including Save the
Chimps and Fauna Foundation.

December 2000: The CHIMP Act, a bill to create a federally funded
national sanctuary system for the retirement of chimpanzees following
their use in research, became public law. This law also conferred
special moral status to chimpanzees by prohibiting killing them as a
matter of convenience to laboratories.

Facts:

Of the estimated 1,200 chimpanzees in nine U.S. laboratories,
approximately half are government owned or supported.
The government spends $20 – 25 million per year on care of chimps in
laboratories. The lifetime care of one chimpanzee costs $300,000 to
$500,000.
Approximately 150 chimps have been retired to the federally funded
national chimpanzee sanctuary system. Approximately 500 more chimps
previously used in research ­ including military, air and space
research ­ reside at private sanctuaries in North America.

-30-

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal
protection organization – backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of
every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for
the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and
hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty ­ On
the web at humanesociety.org.

Project R&R is a national campaign of the New England Anti-Vivisection
Society ( NEAVS ), one of the country's oldest animal protection
organizations, founded in 1895. NEAVS focuses on replacing animal
experiments in laboratories and classrooms with ethically and
scientifically better and more humane alternatives. – On the web at
releasechimps.org.

Liz Bergstrom, 301-258-1455

retire the chimps...

replace em with welfare and public assistance recipients or prisoners, that way they can earn the money they get..

society has to help them, then they can help society.

Amen Hup.......