In response to the December 15, 2011, report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) entitled “Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity”, the NIH issued a press release entitled, “Statement by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins on the Institute of Medicine report addressing the scientific need for the use of chimpanzees in research”. This press release states that Dr. Collins has considered the IOM “report carefully and decided to accept the IOM committee recommendations”. There will be a working group formed to “provide advice on the implementation of the recommendations and to consider the size and placement of the active and inactive populations of NIH-owned or –supported Chimpanzees”. He further stated that “no new awards will be issued for research involving Chimpanzee research until the processes for implementing the recommendations are in place”. A time period for this moratorium on awards was not announced.
