Project R&R’s mission is to end the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and testing and to help provide them release and restitution in permanent sanctuary. While we focus on the U.S., our goal is for a worldwide end to harmful, intrusive, and lethal research on all great apes.
Recently England, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria and Japan have banned or limited biomedical research on great apes. The United States remains the largest user of chimpanzees in biomedical research in the world.
Beautiful Jeannie ChimpanzeePhoto: © Fauna Foundation
Currently chimpanzees are the only great ape (chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) used for biomedical research in the United States.
Chimpanzees, our closest genetic relatives, share 96%* of our DNA. In their intelligence, social and family life, and complex emotions, we see ourselves.
But despite this, chimpanzees in the United States endure a life filled with suffering, fear, and boredom locked in laboratories – in some cases, for decades.
Together, we can educate Americans, pass legislation, and secure the release of all chimpanzees remaining in labs into sanctuary.
1,200 chimpanzees - waiting
Some 1,200 chimpanzees are confined in U.S. laboratories. Some were wild-caught as babies in Africa, others were born in a lab or sent from zoos, circuses, and animal trainers. Some were taught to communicate using sign language or raised in family settings – only to be sent into biomedical experimentation when funding ran out, or they became too strong to manage.
For all of them, life in a lab means confinement, fear, suffering, and endless boredom.
Sign the Petition to Help Chimpanzees in Research
Sign the Project R&R petition to help end chimpanzee research in the U.S.
View the Release & Restitution Presentation
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Unethical science
Betrayed by humans, their next of kin, chimpanzees are left in an ethical blind spot.
Unique individuals, each chimpanzee has a special face, personality, and story. The few who have survived laboratories give us a glimpse into their individuality and the suffering we have erroneously sanctioned.
Unnecessary science
Chimpanzee research has been shown time and again to be unnecessary and even dangerous to human medical advances. The scientific community itself is in debate about the efficacy of chimpanzee research to study human health and disease.
Although chimpanzees have 96% of the same DNA as us, we now know that they – like all other species experimented on – differ significantly from humans. These differences can result in crucial disparities in the way viruses progress in chimpanzees and humans, and in how we respond to drugs and treatments.
How you can help:
Tell your email contacts about Project R&R
Invite a Project R&R speaker to your local community
Make a donation
Today’s scientists are and should be seeking answers with more sophisticated science than using chimpanzees.
Ambassadors
NEAVS, the organizer of Project R&R, has long advocated that the scientific code of ethics for research be expanded to include nonhuman species. Achieving that goal will take years. But one species – the chimpanzee, increasingly acknowledged as so “like us” – is in a unique position to lead the way now with your help.
Quick information
Project R&R FAQs
Chronology of Key Events
Chimpanzees suffer no less, I promise you.
— Jen FeuersteinFormer Yerkes Primate Center caregiver
The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures.
— Dr. Christiaan BarnardThe world’s first human-to-human heart transplant surgeonafter killing a chimpanzee to use as a heart donor
As ambassadors between humans and other animals, chimpanzees can open the door to greater compassion for all nonhuman species whose lives and wills are destroyed in the name of science.
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