This article argues that criteria used to protect vulnerable populations of humans from exploitation should be similarly applied to chimpanzees who are used for research. To accomplish this, the authors propose providing chimpanzees with independent guardians to act on their behalf, and designing experiments so that chimpanzees can withdraw their participation if they so choose. They also suggest regarding them as “animal patients,” with ethical considerations and limitations applied as they are to human patients who participate in research.

[Abstract excerpted from original source.]

“Using an approach developed in the context of human bioethics, we argue that chimpanzees in research can be regarded as vulnerable subjects. This vulnerability is primarily due to communication barriers and situational factors — confinement and dependency — that make chimpanzees particularly susceptible to risks of harm and exploitation in experimental settings. In human research, individuals who are deemed vulnerable are accorded special protections. Using conceptual and moral resources developed in the context of research with vulnerable humans, we show how chimpanzees warrant additional safeguards against harm and exploitation paralleling those for human subjects. These safeguards should include empowering third parties to act as surrogate decision makers for chimpanzees, ensuring participant ‘assent,’ and avoiding recruitment of animal subjects based merely on convenience.”