People don’t want animals to suffer and die to test cosmetics, personal care products, and their ingredients. Companies know this and have largely supported efforts to end animal testing on cosmetics. It seems cut and dried, but, unfortunately, this issue is complicated and laws enacted to ‘ban’ or restrict animal testing have loopholes and include exceptions that allow some animal testing. An untold number of animals are needlessly suffering because of this.

Over 40 chimpanzees have been languishing at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) in New Mexico for years. On October 24, 2019, with the excuse that it’s for their own good, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that the APF chimps would not have their chance for freedom. These chimpanzees were used in horrific experiments, many funded by NIH, as well as other government agencies. Fortunately, research using these chimps ended almost two decades ago, but they cannot wait to be moved to a sanctuary home.

After several years of making animal welfare reports and legal documents available on its website, in February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) blocked the public, animal groups like AAVS, and the media from having access to nearly all information related to the welfare of animals at laboratories, dealers, carriers, breeders, and exhibitors from its website. Gradually, some info has been restored, and most recently, the searchable database has been enabled. However, this reservoir of information continues to have notable omissions and inconsistencies, raising questions about whether information on facilities is complete. It also shows a lack of transparency on the part of USDA.

Last year, Mauritius exported over 4,000 macaques to the U.S., over 50 percent more than in 2013. By far, the majority of monkeys were shipped to laboratories like Primate Products, which imported 1,000 macaques alone. Additionally, two shipments of macaques coming from Mauritius last year were named in violations involving charges of inhumane shipment under the Lacey Act and violations of endangered species law.

Please help stop the exportation of primates from Mauritius!

During the 1950s and 1960s, University of Wisconsin researcher Harry Harlow conducted his maternal deprivation experiments, in which newborn monkeys were taken from their mothers and forced to live in total isolation, causing severe psychosis. Earlier this year, an experiment that recalls those dark days was approved by the University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) as a way to study anxiety in humans.

Animal advocates have been successful in international efforts to convince every major passenger airline to stop its transport of primates for research, except for one: Air France.