Present and future prospects for using alternatives to chimpanzees in research

By Langley, G.

Three chimpanzee studies of hepatitis C infection were found to be duplicative of each other and of research with human volunteers. Research into taste neurophysiology also used chimpanzees, although data which are highly relevant (but less specific) can be obtained from human studies. The use of chimps to study benzene metabolism was found to be poorly planned and unjustifiable. Scientifically, chimps are not always the best "models" for humans, and their use raises insurmountable ethical concerns. Many alternatives are already available, but researchers will need to adjust their perspectives on the usefulness of different types of data.