Non-human primates used in biomedical research face significant welfare challenges, and the Three Rs framework aims to minimize their numbers and suffering while allowing essential research to continue.
Primates in research face inherently significant welfare challenges — they are cognitively complex social animals that suffer psychologically from isolation, restraint and invasive procedures. The regulatory trend is toward ever-stronger protections, including social housing requirements, enrichment mandates and endpoint criteria. The Three Rs (Replace, Reduce, Refine) provide a framework for continuous welfare improvement. Non-human primate research continues only where alternatives do not exist and the scientific question cannot be answered otherwise, but this judgment is contested and the field continues to develop better non-animal models.