China Eastern Airlines Stops Shipping Primates to Labs After PETA Push

New Policy Ends Export of Monkeys From China to U.S. to Be Cut Up, Poisoned, and Killed in Cruel Experiments

For Immediate Release:
March 4, 2013

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Chicago -- Following a PETA campaign that included public protests, a flood of phone calls, and hundreds of e-mails, China Eastern Airlines today informed PETA that it has ended  "transportation of laboratory primates as of Mar. 01, 2013."

Sources within the primate-experimentation industry recently confirmed that China Eastern Airlines had been the sole transporter of monkeys from China to overseas laboratories, following PETA’s successful efforts to persuade Air China and China Southern airlines to end the practice. China Eastern’s decision effectively ends all exports of primates from China for use in experiments. Until now, more than half of all monkeys imported to U.S. laboratories—more than 10,000 monkeys in 2012—came from China.

"China Eastern's right decision means thousands of monkeys will be spared poisoning, drug addiction, mutilations and death in foreign laboratories," says PETA Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman. "PETA will continue to pressure the three remaining airlines that still participate in this bloody trade."

In 2012, PETA protested outside China Eastern's office at Los Angeles International Airport, and in the past few months, PETA encouraged its members to call the airline's cargo offices in the United States, including in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. The airline also received more than 100,000 protest e-mails from PETA supporters.

No North American airline transports primates to laboratories. Air France, Philippine Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines are the only remaining major airlines that transport primates destined for experiments.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.