TED Conversations

Matthew Kinsella

TEDCRED 50+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

Given that chimpanzees are endangered, is it ethical to use them in biomedical research?

Chimpanzees are distributed throughout Equatorial Africa, occurring from southern Senegal across the forested belt north of the Congo River to western Uganda and western Tanzania. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, current estimates for the wild population range from 150,000 to 250,000 individuals. The largest populations of chimpanzees occur in central Africa, mainly Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon. Sadly the populations that once habituated Gambia, Burkina Faso, Benin, or Togo are no longer found.

One of the greatest threats to the long-term survival of chimpanzees and other great apes is habitat loss. Between 2000 and 2010 Africa lost over 3 million hectares of its forests. Much of this loss occurred within the chimpanzee range, including the equatorial forest belt. In 2007, the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s classification of chimpanzees satisfied the criteria for ranking as Endangered based on a projected future rate of decline of 50% in three generations (from 1970-2030).

On top of facing habitat loss by logging operations, illegal hunting, and disease, chimpanzees have to worry about being captured for use in biomedical research. Luckily the demand for chimpanzees has been diminishing because many scientists agree that they are no longer necessary for understanding most diseases today. Either they simply don’t prove useful or better alternatives exist. However one exception remains, Hepatitis C (spread by blood-to-blood contact). Today, an estimated 4 million people are infected by Hepatitis C in the United States, and at least 130 million worldwide. Around 350,000 people around the world die from Hepatitis C-induced liver failure each year. There is still no vaccine, and chimpanzees are the only known non-human animals capable of being infected by the virus. No other animal models exist.

Related Talks:
Topics: Biodiversity class Biological Diversity TEDinClass TEDinClassroom biodiversity
+3
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb

    Theresa Berkovich

    • 0
    May 12 2012: I don't think that the fact that they are endangered has anything to do with the biomedical research. Any facilities that are doing studies on chimps legally cannot go and get them from the wild because for the fact that they are endangered. They must breed them in captivity and use those "lab grown" chimps in their research. So the effect that legal research has on these wild chimps should hypothetically be zero. However, there is always the factor of non state or government regulated facilities who might go out and capture these chimps illegally for research but if there was something that could be done about that don't you think it would have already happened? My point is that legal research doesn't (or shouldn't) effect the wild population so I feel like this question can't really be applied, so the real question is what do you do about those who are doing it the wrong way and with wild chimps.
    • thumb

      Christopher Tam

      • 0
      May 14 2012: I agree with Theresa that the problem lies with the labs that are doing it illegally. One this is that a lab could adopt a chimp that was captured for a pet but is no longer wanted. This would hurt the wild populations, but it should not be attributed directly to the labs. As Matt stated, it seems that the biggest problem is habitat loss for the chimps. I feel like that would affect the wild populations much more than using chimps for lab experiments.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.