US invests millions to breed more test monkeys in wake of COVID-19: report

https://nypost.com ^ | July 19, 2021 | 10:52am | By Julia Musto, Fox News

[Red Badger]

The US government is reportedly investing millions of dollars to breed more monkeys in the name of biomedical research after a shortage of the animals worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the scientific journal Nature, demand for the non-human primates in the US has skyrocketed as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued grants to study HIV/AIDS and the coronavirus necessitated the animals’ use in vaccine testing last year.

The publication reported Thursday that the NIH had invested around $29 million over the past two years in primate housing and care in addition to other “infrastructure improvements” at the seven US National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) and that the agency is expected to spend another $7.5 million by October.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) FY2022 Budget in Brief includes an additional $30 million to support a 27 percent increase in funding of non-human primate resource infrastructure at the NPRCs and Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC).

“These resources will address space and infrastructure capability needs such as animal purchase and transport along with investments to expand housing and support space,” the agency wrote in its request.

According to Nature’s report, around $8 million of recent funding for the NPRCs came from the 2020 CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act.

The NPRCs have more than 22,000 animals including rodents like rats, mice and voles.

Rhesus macaques are the non-human primates most commonly used in NPRC research programs and the centers’ website explains this is due to similar “biological links” between the animals and humans.

[SMARTY]

Hmmmm...were they straight?