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Oregon National Primate Research Center’s Disturbing Experiments
For years, the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) has used and killed hundreds of non-human primates, including mothers and infants. These experiments purported to study human maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes that could have been ethically and effectively studied in humans.
For example, numerous human-based studies have already examined the relationship between maternal consumption of a “Western-style” diet and offspring behavior, providing results that directly translate to human health. Meanwhile, experimenters at the ONPRC fed over 150 Japanese macaques a “Western-style” diet for more than a year before breeding the animals in an attempt to assess how maternal diet influences offspring social behavior. Many of the infants from the experiment were killed at 13 months old so their brains could be sliced and examined. At the Oregon National Primate Research Center, thousands of monkeys are subjected to stressful, painful, and often lethal experiments that claim to assess human health.
Primate infants, “37837” and “37872,” taken from their mothers to study their behavior. A total of 24 infants were bled and killed for this experiment.
Human-relevant Methods to Study Maternal and Child Health Are Readily Available
In a recent interview, Dr. Greg Timmel – attending veterinarian at the Oregon National Primate Research Center – stated that “using an animal or working with an animal in research is the last thing, we only work with animals on research projects if there is no other option available.”
Yet, many other options are available. Most maternal and child health and nutrition experiments conducted at the ONPRC could have been studied ethically, in consenting human volunteers. These studies, including prospective cohort studies, large population-based longitudinal studies, lifestyle intervention studies, and randomized controlled trials have already studied and reported the effects of maternal diet, social behavior, and reproductive health on many endpoints in humans. The ONPRC’s use of live animals to study human nutrition is completely avoidable in these cases. Human nutrition research using non-human primates is a step backward in terms of scientific relevance, immediate clinical applications, ethics, and informed preventative measures for women and children.
Oregon National Primate Research Center’s inhumane practice of confining, breeding, abusing, and killing monkeys must be stopped.
Further Reading
- Federal Complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health
- Physicians group lodges complaint with USDA about OHSU primate center
- Videos and Reports from ONPRC Primate Experiments
More from the ONPRC
- While Primates Suffer, Research Labs Benefit from Paltry Fines, Lax USDA Oversight
- Readers respond: Accountability for OHSU’s primate center
- Lawmakers pass bill requiring more accountability from OHSU Primate Center
- Lawmaker Concerned About Dangerous Conditions at OHSU Primate Center
- Primate Research Center in Oregon Leads Nation in Violations
- Primate Research is Cruel, Expensive, Unnecessary, and Happening Here
- Caretakers at OHSU Primate Research Center Say Low Wages and Long Hours Endanger Monkeys
- Oregon Primate Research Facility Under Scrutiny After Deaths
- U.S. Government Warns Oregon Researchers About Monkey Care
