Chimps & the Hepatitis Vaccine

Chimpanzees have been the primary subjects for hepatitis research since the 1970s. Their marked genetic similarity to humans makes them valuable sources for information about new drugs and vaccines that could save human lives. But researchers have faced ethical quandaries regarding the treatment of this intelligent, and endangered, animal. In recent years, new limits have restricted the extent to which chimps can be captured and used as test subjects.

History

• In 1974, American scientists established a major research center called Vilab at the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research in Robertsfield, Liberia. The laboratory was established with the fundamental goal of using chimpanzees to develop vaccines and immunotherapy for hepatitis B and C. Founding the lab in Liberia meant researchers did not have to import chimpanzees to the United States.

Results

• Several scientific breakthroughs came out of Vilab's research with chimpanzees, including the development of hepatitis B vaccines that are in use throughout the developed and developing world. Researchers also created blood sterilization procedures that have stopped the spread of hepatitis B and C, as well as the AIDS virus, through the transfer of blood products. However, efforts to develop a vaccine for hepatitis C were unsuccessful.

Benefits

• Scientists favor chimpanzees as test subjects because of their genetic similarity to humans, which in many cases means they will respond similarly to vaccines or treatment. With 95 percent genetic similarity, chimps are more closely linked to humans than they are to gorillas, according to a 2002 article by science reporter Roger Highfield, in The Daily Telegraph. They also suffer less from hepatitis than humans do; they can carry hepatitis B virus without the same degree of liver damage and the severe symptoms infected humans will develop.

Ethical considerations

• Because chimpanzees are so intelligent and so closely related to humans, many people have questioned the ethics behind keeping them captive as lab subjects, where they lose their freedom and may undergo painful or potentially life-threatening procedures. Chimps are used to an active lifestyle; in the wild, they may roam as many as eight miles a day. Arguments against keeping them caged have gained significant traction in recent years. Others have argued that since chimpanzees are considered a threatened species, their population in the wild should not be further depleted by their capture for scientific purposes.

Changing standards

• While more than 1,000 chimpanzees remain as subjects in nine different U.S. laboratories, according to The Humane Society of the United States, restrictions have emerged that limit their use in scientific research. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of wild chimpanzees since 1977. In 2007, the National Institutes of Health stopped allowing government-funded research projects to breed captive chimpanzees, making permanent a breeding moratorium the agency first enacted in 1995.