Over the past year, the Trump administration has moved to reduce reliance on animal testing in scientific research at federal agencies and among researchers who rely on federal funding. But some animal welfare activists have pushed the administration to go further, suspending primate imports for research purposes entirely.
Such a move would likely face pushback by academic and industry researchers who believe animal models can still yield important biological data. But there is some evidence that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and aides are, nonetheless, considering such a step.
U.S. officials are “trying to put an end” to importing non-human primates into the country for medical research purposes, Kennedy told Fox in an interview in late December, in remarks that attracted little attention at the time.
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