“All
the chimpanzees in the world,” says James J. Moore, “could
probably fit into the seats of one large football stadium.” That’s
one reason the UCSD scientist and his colleagues Ajit Varki and
Pascal Gagneux have proposed a set of ethical and scientific guidelines
for the study of captive great apes, a category that includes chimpanzees,
bonobos, orangutans and gorillas.
“We have special ethical responsibilities towards captive great apes,” they
recently wrote in Nature, for an article accompanying the formal
publication of the chimpanzee genome. “They share traits that
justify this special status—including but not limited to their
genetic similarity to humans, the ability to use and modify tools,
and a sense of self.’”
Genome-mapping, they note, has shown that human beings and chimpanzees
share more than 99 percent sequence identity in genes and proteins.
Indeed, the great apes are now grouped with humans in the family
Hominidae.
They conclude that it is vital that the biomedical community recognizes
the great
apes’ status as near kin—our closest evolutionary cousins. “The
study of great apes should follow ethical principles generally similar to those
for current studies on human subjects who cannot give informed consent,” they
state in the article. The authors come from various disciplines.
Moore is a professor of anthropology;
Varki is a professor of both cellular and molecular medicine, and
Gagneux is a scientist
in cellular and molecular medicine who also conducts endangered-species research
for
the Zoological Society of San Diego. Together they urge all scientists studying
great apes “to contribute not only to the care of captive apes, but also
to develop mechanisms
by which studies of captive great apes would generate a revenue stream to enhance
support for the conservation of great ape populations in the wild.” Moore, Varki and Gagneux remind their colleagues around the world
that National Research Council Commission reports and a recent
Federal Register notice have
re-emphasized researchers’ obligations to provide “the best and most
humane care
possible” for apes under study. “From genetics to biochemistry to physiology to behavior and culture,” they
argue,“
the time has come to establish broadly accepted guidelines for systematic, humane,
and ethical studies of great-ape populations that also contribute to the well-being
of the apes themselves.” They also note that there is a deep irony in the
fact that the sequencing of
the chimpanzee genome coincides with the potential demise of great apes in the
wild.
The UCSD scientists’ insistence on an ethical approach to vital research
would, we
presume, be applauded by our cousins sitting in their theoretical football stadium. — Paul K. Mueller
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