NationalPrimateResearchCenters—NorthAmerica

Abstract

In 1960, the United States Congress enacted the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Primate Research Centers Program to provide the scientific community with the specialized resources needed for nonhuman primate (NHP) research. Today, the seven National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) form a network of unique institutions that serve as a national scientific resource for research that advances human health through the use of NHPs. Whether the research requires on‐site facilities or remote access to services and resources, the NPRCs draw on decades of experience and a portfolio of capabilities to customize a research support solution that addresses each researcher's needs. Among the successes of research with NHPs are elimination of polio as a public health threat in the United States; development of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease; and more effective treatments for diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular disease.

Commentary: Trust but Verify

“…5 The emergence of the National Primate Research Centers, which were established to ensure that scientists would have the specialized resources needed to conduct primate research, owe their origins to the millions of macaques removed from the wild during the 1940s and 1950s. 6 However, by the late 1960s rhesus macaque populations in India had declined by 90%. 7 This staggering population decrease, coupled with the revelation that the United States had violated a 1955 agreement which required that (1) use of Indian rhesus macaques be restricted to medical research and vaccine production, (2) the US Public Health Service certify every project using the Indian-origin macaques, (3) the US establish an Advisory Committee on Rhesus Monkey Requirements, and (4) the monkeys were to be used humanely, and explicitly not used in atomic blast experiments or space research, led to an eventual ban on the exportation of Indian-origin rhesus macaques to the US.…”