Chimp facility did not violate breeding ban, despite births

Senior officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have concluded that a major chimpanzee research centre did not violate its 17-year breeding moratorium, despite 130 births to NIH-owned parents between 2000 and 2010, reported Nature on 24 August.

The assessment was carried out by the NIH’s Office of Extramural Research and obtained by the publication under the Freedom of Information Act. Officials maintain that the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, did not violate the moratorium because, among other reasons, the centre did not make additional charges to the NIH as a result of the births.