By Lisa Myers and Diane Beasley
Rock Center
Rosie and Ken are 30-year-old chimpanzees who've never known a day of freedom. They were born in research labs and have spent almost their entire lives being experimented on by scientists in search of cures for human diseases.
These two chimpanzees have been infected with viruses, darted, and sedated more than 100 times, and put through dozens of sometimes painful procedures. For years, Rosie repeatedly was given a drug that caused her seizures.
Today, these aging chimps are living in large enclosures called primadomes at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, available to be used for still more experiments. When Rosie and Ken and a dozen other chimps were shipped to the lab, in 2010, after a 10-year hiatus from invasive testing, it provoked a public outcry.
Chimpanzee 'Ken' in his enclosure.
We met Rosie and Ken not long ago, when, after months of negotiation, Texas Biomed gave NBC News unprecedented access to the highly secretive world of primate research.
Dr. Robert Lanford, who has experimented on chimps for 27 years, said he wants the public to see what it's like at his research lab today. "The American people has had the wrong opinion that these animals are in little bitty cages in a dark room with no windows," he said. "I want them to see who we are and how we take care of the animals and why we're doing it."
Dr. John VandeBerg, director of the primate research center, says chimpanzees here are treated "with the utmost of reverence," and have a "high quality of life."
But that quality of life is a matter of intense debate and part of the emotional argument over whether experimenting on chimps is morally and scientifically justified to save human lives. Also at issue: When is enough enough? When do chimps who've given much in the name of science get to retire to the relative freedom of a sanctuary?
One reason chimpanzee research is so controversial is that these amazing creatures share 98 percent of our DNA and have many human traits, including emotions ranging from joy to sadness and fear.
"Remember we're talking about our closest living relatives with brains so sophisticated that they can do a lot of problems on a computer with a touchpad, faster than secondary school students. That's how bright they are," said famed anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall in an interview with NBC News.
Dr. Goodall has worked tirelessly for decades to improve the lives of lab chimps and to persuade scientists and the government that this research should be banned.
"All invasive research is torture," Goodall says. "And it's not just the procedures. It's the imprisonment. It's being kept in a small space with no choice. You just are there. You're powerless."
Over the four days our team spent at Texas Biomed, our cameras were required to shoot from a "safe zone," since many of the chimps, like Ken and Rosie, are infected with viruses such as Hepatitis C and HIV. So to get close-ups of the chimps, we built special equipment to attach small cameras to the cages. At first, the chimps tried to remove them — and then, were fascinated by seeing their own reflections in the camera lens.
We saw three different types of housing where the chimps live, enrichment which involves activities to keep them engaged, and their interaction with behaviorists. We observed how the chimpanzees are trained to voluntarily present their own body parts to receive shots. We also were allowed to watch one of Lanford's experiments in which a chimp who'd been infected with the Hepatitis C virus was sedated and then bled. Lanford has been working to find a vaccine for over a decade.
Testing on chimps has saved lives in the past: it helped produce the Hepatitis B vaccine which is now given to children at birth.
But scientists disagree about whether chimps are needed to find a cure for Hepatitis C. Lanford says testing on chimps will save human lives. Chimps are crucial, he says, because they're the only animals that can be infected with the virus. Unlike humans, they don't develop liver disease.
Scientists here also argue that they provide a quality of life for chimpanzees which is just as good as a sanctuary, and that instead of being retired, chimps like Rosie and Ken should live out their days in the labs, in case they are needed for research in the future.
"I think of the chimpanzees in the same way that I think of a library. There are many books in the library that will never be used this year or next year," VandeBerg says. "Many of them might never be used again. But we don't know which ones will be needed tomorrow, next year or the year after."
Anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall.
Goodall says that's a terrible idea. "Most of them are just stockpiled. Most of them are not being used. They're just there in case maybe one day we might want to use them again," she said. "I definitely think at a certain point, they deserve to be freed from this kind of life of servitude."
Whether a chimp gets to retire is entirely up to the labs and the government. There is no ethical standard or uniform criteria.
According to Goodall, "the tragedy is that some of the chimps in the labs know nothing else. They have never tasted any kind of freedom in their lives. Freedom to choose, freedom to go where they want."
To see what life looks like for lab chimps lucky enough to be deemed no longer needed for research, we spent two days at the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Shreveport, Louisiana. It's aptly known as "Chimp Haven."
In the back woods of Louisiana, for the first time in most of their lives, the chimps can walk on grass, swing in the trees ... and forage in the forest.
Dr. Linda Brent founded Chimp Haven, after spending 16 years as a behaviorist at Texas Biomed. "Everything we do here, from the way the facility was built to the things we give to the chimpanzees and the way we manage the facility, every decision we make is for the welfare of the chimpanzees," she says.
Additional Resources: For more information on the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Chimp Haven, click here. For more information on the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, click here. For more information on Jane Goodall’s work and the Jane Goodall Institute, click here. To learn about a group of lab chimpanzees that Goodall helped get placed in the Fauna sanctuary outside of Montreal, Canada, click here. To learn more about the Great Ape Protection Act that Goodall is working to pass, click here.
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I would like Dr. Robert Lanford and Dr. John Vandeberg would spend the rest of their lives locked up and experminated on. Lets give them cancer and HIV, and then some more. Lets pour chemicals in their eyes, make their noses bleed. Then lets stick them, bleed them, and cause them to have seizures. I hate them and have nothing nice to say about either of them. I wish everything they have done to any chimp be done to them!!!!!! and then again and again. SHAME ON BOTH OF YOU!!!!!!
Why not use people who are on welfare. They just get free money for having kid after kid even though all of us tax payers support them. Let them earn their money!
You need to run for president, I would so vote for you!
Why stop their? Eat their children!
Using these chimps for experiments is not right. How would you feel going through that experience! And how much progress have you actually made in your research, enough to put these chimps through so much torture and pain! Experiment on yourself if you feel so fond about your research!
We must stop this horrid treatment--mistreatment!--of Chimps now and forever more!
While I am not a chimpanzee lover I can't help but be upset over this. This is still one of Gods creatures that has feelings and I believe- a soul. I just kills me to think about what ALL lab animals go through for the sake of man kind. I say ban ALL animal research. Is using death row inmates ethical? No but they are a better choice. We spend millions supporting them. Let them contribute.
Would we really want the poor chimps that have been injected with Hep C & AIDS to be released? Although I do think it is terrible, they need to stay where they are & be treated with medicine like any human would be.
I used to feel for the chimpanzees but then I found out they not only eat their own poop but also mouth-rape frogs. Look it up on youtube.
The whole idea just makes me sad and angry. Look into the chimps' eyes; do they look happy?
Why not do tests on welfare recipients? They get enough money for nothing, time to EARN the cash.
I've never thought of myself as an animal activist...but as I've gotten older I see what we do to other living creatures in order to prolong our lives. What crap! I'm sure there are plenty of humans willing to take experimental drugs to cure what they might have. I can't stand seeing a animal locked up and subjected to these experiments. \ Just my opinion.
This has always made me extremely depressed. Here they are saying that chimps are just like us so why don't they consider the similar emotional factors as well. How sad and depressed those poor animals must be. Every living being deserves a free, cageless, happy life. Thank you, Jane for all of your work on behalf of animals. As you probably know, Stevie Nicks wrote and sang a song about you and what you do (called Jane) but I can no longer listen to it because it makes me cry. I hope someday soon that people will look back at animal experimentation in the same way that we remember the Salem witch trials-amazed and saddened that humans could be so stupid and thankful that the crazy acts of torture are long gone.
Don't be depressed, become an advocate for the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. or become a Citizen Lobbyist...... One person CAN change the world.
Only research hacks and selfish individuals could condone this research. I'm sure we only saw the best of what goes on there. This is age old. There are many videos that show what goes on behind close doors. I don't care how many cures they could come up with (they usually don't) could ever make what we do to them worth it. Death is a part of life and when it's our time...it's our time. I don't want any other creature to ever have to go thru this in order for my sorry butt to live. Anyone who would expect them to, is selfish and horrible. These chimps are not pieces of furniture. They are living sentient beings with their own rights to their own lives. And when the day comes that they can speak more, we will not look at other animals the same. Remember, we are animals too. This research needs to stop. Let the researchers and those that condone it, experiment on themselves if they feel fit.
well said tolerant 1.
put the researchers in a cage and test on them
S A V A G E R Y Indecent torture on a helpless animal... SHAME
Since waterboarding is also NOT torture, why don't we cage Dick-Head Cheney and the Texas Moron and subject them to the same treatment. Let's see if those two useless sacks of garbage can contribute something to science.
Did you notice in the rest of the world its 2012?
Agree!! Those uber-morons should be used instead!
nelson , why bring politics to this thread? maybe they should use you , you seems to have a very limited mental capacity. water boarding found binladen ...
This has got to stop! How would you feel about spending your life as an experiment. Being poked and put through all that trauma! If you are so fond of your research, experiment on yourself....... not on hopeless animals who can not defend themselves and who have no voice to do so!
Rise of the planet of the apes, torture is torture whether its a twisted little kid pulling wings off a fly or a scientist spraying fungus into the eyes of a monkey to see if there is a connection between blindness and mold spores. some of our best medicines are thousands of years old no research needed they are proven. realistically a computer model could do much of the same testing but its all about the money,outdated research and lawyers.
huge grants ,why would they stop using these animals.as humans we are moving forward ,but very slowly.
i saw the thumbnail picture, and thought i was looking at one of the republican nominees
The scientists are lazy. Scientists continually use the scare tactic that they have no other alternative but to use animals to find the cure. They haven't had to figure out an alternative. Animals are cheap, can't speak and very few will take up their cause. It is time for a paradigm shift in the scientific community's thought patterns. Find something other an animals to do your testing!!!!!
'Project X'
'Planet of the Apes'
We have all this technology to produce "stories" of this magnitude yet we still let these so called Labs stay in buisness??
When are we as humans going to realize that without a natural order to life we are nothing?
Neither people (as one post said) nor animals should be kept captive all their lives. We CAN free the Chimps and DO free the humans when they are found in captivity. They have to be found first and we know where the Chimps are. They feel pain and fear the same as humans. LET THEM GO and have a little peace and freedom in their lives before they die.
they should be allowed to live out there lives in comfort after all the hell they have lived thru ,
When an animal researcher says that the public misunderstands the issue, I stop listening. I've spent over 30 years in the Animal Rights movement, and the thing researchers fear the most is having their grants revoked. There is no solid reason to keep using many of the cruel testing programs currently in operation. The beauty industry found that out, and the bio-lab crowd is catching on. It's about time.
I stopped listening when the scientist compared a chimpanzee, who shares 98% of our DNA and our common ancestor, to an inanimate object--a book. And keeps these animals hostage "just in case." However, the mere fact he was both honest and stupid enough to say what he thinks is good because I think he may have just poisoned the well.
We may have needed to sacrifice chimps earlier in human progress but in the 21st century, many scientists agree that it's not necessary and even can be harmful. Thalidomide was tested on non-human animals before used on humans and, as a result, it was a huge surprise when human babies were born with severe abnormalities. Reliance on animal testing seems to me to be rather lazy when there are other means/modalities upon which to test.
dupe
dupe
Sorry duplicate- kept being told I was error "bubblegum!"
There are two good sides to this argument. Animal testing is ugly, but unfortunately unavoidable, we demand cures for diseases but there is no way to approve drugs, vaccines, etc without animals. Additionally, something like a vaccine can't be tested on humans. Does unnecessary animal testing occur when it really need not? Of course, and it is terrible, but vitally important animal testing also occurs.
Rosie and Ken are heartbreaking examples, but the fact that they have been used for multiple tested instead of being euthanized and replaced with new chimps is commendable (i.e. fewer chimps being kept in a lab is better than more).
I don't think at this point Rosie or Ken could be set free. They were born and raised in a lab! There is no possible way they could survive now, with their constant interaction with humans, they would no doubt walk right up to a poacher. On top of that, them being exposed to so many viruses makes them a liability to the population of monkeys they are released to. Imagine a couple of monkeys carrying multiple viruses, spreading across a population, mutating as they move host to host. In the end, it could kill the whole population.