Right now, the U.S. House and Senate are meeting to finalize the country's 2022 budget. Worryingly, however, some members of Congress are pushing for the inclusion of $20 million that would fund a dramatic increase in the number of nonhuman primates used for invasive research in the United States.
The funds are earmarked to fund expansion of the National Primate Research Centers, the network of seven facilities across the United States that breed, house and test on monkeys. Tens of thousands of primates are already being held, but not used, in U.S. laboratories each year. Expansion of these centers, and an increase in the number of "available" monkeys, means that the money would essentially be used to create an ever-growing monkey stockpile for use in biomedical research.
Aside from the obvious moral and ethical implications of such a stockpile, continuing to fund this type of research is wasteful and ineffective. Animal experiments fail 90% of the time. Our government should instead focus on the development and implementation of research models that utilize human biology to deliver drugs, vaccines and other therapies that are relevant to human health.
Please urge your federal legislators to withhold funding and say "NO" to this cruel monkey stockpile! 
