Primates are used in biomedical research for conditions from HIV to neurological disease. This page examines ethics, welfare standards, and alternatives.
Non-human primate research raises some of the most difficult ethical questions in animal welfare because of the cognitive complexity and social nature of these animals. Primates used in research experience isolation, confinement, invasive procedures, and sometimes prolonged distress in experiments studying chronic disease. The welfare of individual primates depends heavily on housing (social vs solitary), enrichment, and the nature of procedures performed. Social housing and environmental enrichment are increasingly mandated but implementation varies. The trajectory of the field is toward reduction and replacement, driven by both ethics and the scientific recognition that human organoids and computer models can replace some primate research.