Washington Board of Health Refuses to Require Reporting on Zoonotic Diseases in Monkeys: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
June 4, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Chief Scientific Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, regarding the Washington Board of Health’s decision today to reject a first-of-its-kind rulemaking petition asking the board to track dangerous pathogens found in primates caged in laboratories in Washington State. Washington state’s Secretary of Health seconded the motion to decline the petition after acknowledging that he is aware monkeys in laboratories are infected with Shigella. PETA, Northwest Animal Rights Network, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine gathered 30,000 petition signatures. PETA delivered them at the meeting along with a larger-than-life monkey-shaped origami sculpture bearing the signatures:

The Washington Board of Health chose to give powerful institutions—such as the University of Washington—a free pass to endanger public health. PETA has shown that dangerous pathogens already circulate in laboratory primates, and refusing to track them does not make them disappear. A disease does not become less relevant to public health simply because it is detected in a monkey instead of a human. By declining to close this reporting gap, the board has chosen to look away from a known blind spot rather than address it.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.