PETA Asks Departing CDC Director to Permanently Ban All Monkey Imports Into the U.S.

For Immediate Release:
May 8, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the announcement that Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will leave the agency on June 30. PETA sent this letter to Dr. Walensky today.

Before she leaves office, Dr. Walensky should enact a permanent ban on the importation of monkeys into the U.S. for the deadly and voracious experimentation industry. Monkey importation brings with it escalating public health threats, as recent shipments of monkeys have arrived with pathogens so dangerous that some are considered bioterrorism agents. Just last week, an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) was reported in monkeys at an export facility in Mauritius—the second-largest exporter of monkeys to the U.S. The CDC has identified TB as the leading infectious disease killer in the world. The experimentation industry has acknowledged that monkey importation imposes a zoonotic threat and is not sustainable. This could be the defining action of Dr. Walensky’s legacy—protecting the health of Americans, leaving the country in a safer position, and preventing an easily avoidable pandemic.

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