Please Stop Barbaric Import of Primates

vjn1(at)cdc.gov



Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA 30333


Dear Mrs. Gerberding,

The CDC has banned the importation of primates as pets because of the significant public health risk that they pose and because of concern about the potential of a global epidemic. But the CDC has conveniently looked the other way at the very same risks associated with importing primates for use as "research tools."

Don't you see the substantial risks that infectious diseases may be transmitted from monkeys to humans and for banning the importation of primates as pets. I implore you to extend this policy to the importation of primates who are intended to be used in experiments. In addition to ensuring consistency of the CDC's policy, this decision would also be in the best interests of animal welfare and minimizing the risk to public safety.

The world's primates urgently need your voice today. Every year, tens of thousands of nonhuman primates—many of whom are captured in the wild or purchased from filthy, crowded breeding facilities overseas--are imported into the United States for use in cruel experiments that are often deadly. Primates are confined to cramped crates and are loaded into the cargo holds of passenger airplanes, enduring flights that may cover thousands of miles and that may last 48 hours or more. Death during these flights is not uncommon. Each year, upon arrival at airports, animals are found to have died from hypothermia, dehydration, and diarrhea.

Although captive-primate-breeding centers have been established in the United States, unscrupulous animal-supply companies increase their profit margins simply by capturing monkeys in the wild. In 2005, animal-testing conglomerate Covance imported more than 12,000 monkeys into the U.S . Such financial gain to private companies comes at the expense of public safety risks, as imported monkeys have been documented to carry an array of dangerous viruses, such as West Nile, hepatitis B, Shigella, herpes, and Ebola—which are transmissible from monkeys to humans.

I am writing to ask you to ban the importation of primates for use in experiments for once and for all! Every step of getting primates in the wild or from overseas breeding facilities to laboratories in the U.S. involves tremendous suffering. Monkeys are highly social, intelligent animals, but the primate trade treats them like inanimate commodities, packing them into cramped crates and shipping them thousands of miles. Many monkeys die during transport. Please stop this cruel business!

Thank you for your compassion for animals and for your willingness to act.

Sincerely,