Originally published on August 6, 2014, at ForceChange.com

Target: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Goal: Ban the horrific methods used to test chimpanzees and other primates

Because chimpanzees are 99% genetically compatible to humans, scientists in the United States use them as experiments in traumatic and extremely invasive tests. Many of the chimps are mistreated physically and psychologically in order to compare their reactions to ours, but the majority of tested primates end up traumatized, debilitated, or dead. Do not allow brutal lab tests to continue against innocent chimps in America.

Since scientists are not allowed to perform experiments on living human brains, they capture primates in the wild and conduct invasive procedures on their brains. By cutting open the skull and applying electric currents to different parts of the brain, scientists have induced various physical reactions and emotional responses from primates. Unnecessary brain surgery on chimps is equivalent to animal cruelty and must be stopped immediately.

Many captured primates find themselves imprisoned in cramped metal cages and injected with a lethal disease. Scientists later inject possible vaccines into the primates to discover which vaccines are successful in staving off the disease. Over 90% of the vaccines fail.

Scientists also conduct maternal and love deprivation experiments on chimps to test their psychological responses. Baby chimps born in the lab are permanently separated from their mothers and deprived of physical contact. Most of the chimps in these experiments become emotionally traumatized or even suicidal.

By signing the petition below you will help urge U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to create a law banning cruel experiments on chimps and other primates.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,

Morally reprehensible physical and psychological experiments continue to be conducted on chimpanzees and other primates in our country. Unnecessary invasive brain surgery and maternal deprivation experiments severely traumatize primates both physically and mentally. Put a stop to these brutal experiments that hold little to no scientific value.

How can you justify taking a baby chimp away from its mother’s arms? Why continue drilling into their skulls or injecting them with deadly diseases? What gives us the right to torture chimps in order to learn more about ourselves?

These experiments only prove our own inhumanity, and by allowing them to continue, we are silently condoning these horrendous actions. As a society, we refuse to allow these experiments to be conducted on ourselves. Now, we need to stand together and put an end to these horrendous experiments on our chimps and other primates.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: “Amcaja” via Wikimedia Commons