NIH ends era of U.S. medical research on chimpanzees

The National Institutes of Health has quietly ended the federal government’s long and controversial history of using chimpanzees for biomedical research.

Director Francis Collins announced Wednesday that 50 chimpanzees held by the government for medical research will be sent to sanctuaries. His decision came a little more than two years after NIH decided to release more than 300 chimps at research facilities across the country and resettle them in more-humane conditions.