This report examines the 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection reports of animal research facilities as well as whistle-blower accounts to assess and address violations of the Animal Welfare Act inside of U.S. animal research facilities.

From Report Summary:

“The data discussed in this report clearly demonstrates that non-human primates are not adequately protected from abuse within U.S. laboratories. Within approximately one year 10 U.S. labs (University of Washington (Seattle), McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, University of Massachusetts, MPI Research, Vanderbilt University, University of Louisiana, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Cornell University, and the Southern Research Institute) were either fined, warned or cited for incidents that involved violations of the Animal Welfare Act which killed a total of 16 non-human primates. Others were cited for basic violations such as depriving primates of either food or water. These abuses were considered to be violations of the Animal Welfare Act.”

“Many other primates suffer from abusive situations that are allowed by the AWA due to the practice of allowing Institutional Animal Care & Use Committees (IACUC) to self-approve “exceptions to standard care.” The practice of allowing these exceptions promotes practices such as depriving primates of contact with members of their own species, depriving primates of water/food for extended periods, use of severe confinement techniques, allowing cages to go for weeks without cleaning, or even use of anesthesia in potentially painful procedures. As much 43% of all primates used in experimentation are exempted from at least one part of the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act.”

The link below will begin a download of a PDF version of the report.