This is a list of countries banning non-human ape experimentation. The term non-human ape here refers to all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, excluding Homo sapiens. Banning in this case refers to the enactment of formal decrees prohibiting experimentation on non-human apes, though often with exceptions for extreme scenarios.[a]
Experimentation on great apes—a smaller family within the ape superfamily—is currently banned in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand (29 countries total).[1] These countries have ruled that chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans are so cognitively similar to humans that using them as test subjects is unethical.[2][3] Austria is the only country in the world to have completely banned experiments on all apes, including both the great apes and the lesser apes, commonly known as gibbons.[4]
| Country | Date | Law | Statute | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 2012 | Animal Experiments Act 2012[b] | An animal experiment is in any case unlawful if the animal experiment is on any species and subspecies of the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla spp), and on any species and subspecies of the families orangutans (Pongo[c]) and gibbons (Hylobatidae).[d] | [5][6][7] |
| Country | Year | Title | Statute | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Union Member States | 2013 | EU Directive 2010/63/EU | The use of great apes, as the closest species to human beings with the most advanced social and behavioural skills, should be permitted only for the purposes of research aimed at the preservation of those species and where action in relation to a life-threatening, debilitating condition endangering human beings is warranted, and no other species or alternative method would suffice in order to achieve the aims of the procedure. The Member State claiming such a need should provide information necessary for the commission to take a decision. | [8] |
| New Zealand | 1999 | Animal Welfare Act 1999 | No person may carry out any research, testing, or teaching involving the use of a non-human hominid unless such use has first been approved by the Director-General and the research, testing, or teaching is carried out in accordance with any conditions imposed by the Director-General.
The Director-General must not give approval unless he or she is satisfied that the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching is in the best interests of the non-human hominid; or that the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching is in the interests of the species to which the non-human hominid belongs and that the benefits to be derived from the use of the non-human hominid in the research, testing, or teaching are not outweighed by the likely harm to the non-human hominid. |
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