PETA to DOGE: Save Millions, End Abuse by Closing Failed National Primate Research Centers

For Immediate Release:
March 6, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Washington –

In a letter sent today citing exorbitant indirect costs and failed research, PETA urges the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to end waste and abuse by cutting funding to the seven National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs).

Over the past six decades, the primate centers have killed hundreds of thousands of monkeys while siphoning billions of taxpayer dollars for experiments—but failing to deliver promised vaccines or cures for deadly human diseases.

The primate centers are among the most bloated drains on taxpayer-funded research, with sky-high indirect costs under NIH grants. Washington NPRC, for example, pockets an outrageous 83.1% indirect cost rate to prop up its crumbling, scandal-ridden operation. Now, desperate to keep the gravy train rolling, WaNPRC has joined the lawsuit against DOGE—fighting to protect its cash flow instead of addressing its glaring ethical and scientific failures.

Most animals at the NPRCs are known only by their tattoo numbers. Monkey r12001, pictured here at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, endured chronic diarrhea for six years, per a six-month PETA investigation.

“For six decades, American taxpayers have footed the bill while the National Primate Research Centers burn through billions in taxpayer dollars, racking up outrageous indirect costs while failing to deliver meaningful medical breakthroughs,” says PETA senior science advisor on primate issues Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “DOGE has the opportunity to put an end to this reckless waste by cutting funding for these bloated, outdated, disease-ridden facilities and redirecting taxpayer money toward modern, human-relevant research.”

In 2015, Harvard University’s New England NPRC, facing multiple animal welfare violations, closed. NPRCs remain at the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oregon Health & Science University, Emory University, Tulane University, the University of California–Davis, and Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

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.