Harvard Announces Closure of New England Primate Research Center

April 2013

During World Week for Animals in Laboratories, Harvard announced plans to shut down its controversial and beleaguered primate testing facility by 2015. More than 2,000 monkeys are imprisoned at this laboratory, which is one of eight “national primate research centers” supported by the federal National Institutes of Health. PETA has been campaigning against the cruel experimentation at these facilities for 30 years. Most recently, PETA protested and stopped NASA’s plans to fund radiation experiments on monkeys at Harvard, targeted Harvard as one of the worst laboratories in the U.S., filed complaints calling on the federal government to revoke taxpayer funding following the Harvard primate center’s laundry list of animal welfare violations, and run ads on cabs and bus shelters around the city declaring that experiments on primates are tantamount to murder.