HHS to Explore Banning Monkey Imports, Transition Labs to Sanctuaries: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
December 20, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding tonight’s statement by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is looking into ending the importation of monkeys for use in U.S. laboratories and turning some of the seven national primate research centers into sanctuaries. The statement was made on My View with Lara Trump, which aired at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News:

Secretary Kennedy’s welcome announcement tonight that HHS wants to end the importation of monkeys into the U.S. and transition the National Primate Research Centers to sanctuaries is not only a magnificent holiday gift for the monkeys held in barren conditions, but also will wind down decades of dead-end experiments that cost hundreds of millions of federal dollars. Kennedy’s commitment follows evidence PETA shared with him revealing that tuberculosis, malaria, Herpes B, Chagas, and other deadly zoonotic pathogens are entering the U.S. in monkeys shipped from Asia and Africa; our investigations into violations in the Oregon, Wisconsin, and Washington National Primate Research Centers; and years of intense PETA campaigns on both issues. It means we can start the new year by protecting humans and monkeys from dangerous diseases, paving the way for the adoption of superior animal-free research methods, and providing lifetime care to the monkeys who have been caged, cut up and killed in disturbing, repetitious experiments that have benefited no one. We hope that the Oregon National Primate Research Center will be the first facility to toss out its scalpels and restraint chairs and become a true sanctuary for the monkeys now caged there.

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.