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<\/a> CDC deputy chief of staff Sam Beyda & friends.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n ATLANTA,\u00a0 Georgia\u2013\u2013<\/strong>About 200 fewer macaques will be used in 2026 in U.S. federal laboratories after the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) quits keeping non-human primates toward the end of 2025.<\/p>\n That will leave about 7,000 more non-human primates,\u00a0 mostly rhesus and pig-tailed macaques,\u00a0 still in custody of other government agencies,\u00a0 chiefly the National Institutes of Health,\u00a0 Food & Drug Administration,\u00a0 and Defense Health Services.<\/p>\n Recently appointed CDC deputy chief of staff Sam Beyda,\u00a0 a former member of the now disbanded Department of Governmental Efficiency team,\u00a0 circa November 1,\u00a0 2025 ordered CDC scientists \u201cto phase out all of their monkey research,\u201d\u00a0 reported Science<\/em> online news editor David Grimm on November 21,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 confirming several days of rumors.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThe fate of the animals\u2014largely used in work on HIV prevention\u2014is unclear,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm wrote.\u00a0 \u201cSome may be transferred to primate sanctuaries;\u00a0 others may be euthanized.\u201d<\/p>\n Mentioned Grimm,\u00a0 \u201cApart from the retirement of research chimpanzees initiated by the National Institutes of Health a decade ago,\u201d\u00a0 this will be \u201cthe first time a U.S. agency has ended its in-house nonhuman primate program.\u201d<\/p>\n According to \u201ca government official who is familiar with the situation but who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm wrote,\u00a0 \u201cBeyda said he was speaking for Health & Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., \u00a0who recently has made curtailing animal research part of his Make America Healthy Again agenda. Beyda has also been newly tapped to lead several initiatives that will restructure CDC,\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Bloomberg News<\/em> has reported.<\/p>\n <\/a> Macaque breeding facility.<\/strong><\/em> The termination of CDC macaque studies is in line with the stated intention of U.S. Food & Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary\u00a0and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya to reduce reliance on animal studies,\u00a0 and with the Department of Defense ending experiments on dogs and cats earlier in 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (See Enlisting Trump \u201cblogosphere,\u201d White Coat Waste kills cruel cat experiments<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>But the end of CDC macaque studies is directly contrary to soaring laboratory demand for monkeys,\u00a0 especially macaques,\u00a0 over the past 20 years,\u00a0 including during the first Donald Trump presidency.<\/p>\n As recently as a year ago,\u00a0 the major breeders and importers of monkeys for biomedical research appeared to be betting heavily that high demand for monkeys, \u00a0even at prices of $60,000 apiece, \u00a0would continue for long enough to warrant expanding facilities,\u00a0 both in the U.S. and abroad.<\/p>\n [See Trump regime & labs at odds: where does monkey demand go from here?<\/a>, \u00a0Lab chimp retirement upstages steep rise in monkey use<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Will \u201cmonkey shortage\u201d due to COVID-19 bring new research methods?<\/a>]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The second Donald Trump presidency has seen an abrupt reversal of the longterm trend toward increasing laboratory animal use,\u00a0 dating back to the formation of the Food & Drug Administration in 1930,\u00a0 the CDC in 1946,\u00a0 and the National Institutes of Health in modern form in 1948.<\/p>\n (See Is NIH under Trump really replacing animal testing, or just axing research?<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Beyda,\u00a0 apparently a political appointee rather than a scientist,\u00a0 \u201cgraduated with a degree in economics from Columbia University in 2023, and in 2020 he co-authored an editorial expressing interest in volunteering to be a human subject for a COVID-19 vaccine challenge trial,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm noted.<\/p>\n Said Anthony Bellotti,\u00a0 the former Republican campaign strategist who founded and directs the right-leaning White Coat Waste Project,\u00a0 to Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cSecretary Kennedy has now delivered on his promise to work with White Coat Waste by completely shutting down the CDC\u2019s primate labs, \u00a0where hundreds of victims were infected with smallpox, \u00a0hemorrhagic fevers, hepatitis, \u00a0and HIV-like viruses at taxpayer expense.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThis is exceeding our expectations,\u201d \u00a0agreed White Coat Waste senior vice president of advocacy and public policy Justin Goodman, \u00a0to Grimm.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think this will set a standard for other agencies,\u201d\u00a0 Goodman added.<\/p>\n Along with the White Coat Waste Project,\u00a0 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Center for a Humane Economy claimed credit for the CDC end of monkey studies.<\/p>\n Wrote Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle and director of research and regulatory affairs Tamara Drake,\u00a0 in a joint statement,\u00a0 \u201cThis change in policy holds the potential for a seismic shift in how our nation approaches drug testing, \u00a0infectious disease work, \u00a0and biomedical research.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is perhaps a bigger development than the 2015 announcement by the National Institutes of Health to end in short order the use of chimpanzees in invasive experiments.<\/p>\n \u201cDecades of HIV research using primates failed to produce a useful vaccine. These protracted failures became emblematic of the inherent deficiencies in animal testing,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle and Drake said.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n But what will become of the CDC macaques?<\/p>\n \u201cIn late October,\u201d\u00a0 recounted Grimm,\u00a0 \u201cBeyda reached out to Scott Kubisch, \u00a0who runs the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary, \u00a0one of the largest monkey refuges in North America. \u00a0The Winamac,\u00a0 Indiana,\u00a0 facility has made a name for itself by working with academic labs to retire their former research animals.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Kubish to Grimm,\u00a0 \u201cHe wanted to know how many monkeys we could take immediately,\u00a0 and whether it would be possible to retire all of them within a year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKubisch says it would take close to $14 million\u2014and at least a year\u2014for Peaceable Primate to prepare for an additional 200 monkeys,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm summarized.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very interested in working with them,\u201d \u00a0Kubish affirmed. \u201cIt just hinges on funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Where will the money come from?<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Carole Noon (1949-2009) raised $3.7 million from the Arcus Foundation to found Save the Chimps in 1997,\u00a0 the donor-funded refuge for about 300 former research chimpanzees located near Fort Pierce,\u00a0 Florida.<\/p>\n Chimp Haven,\u00a0 near Shreveport,\u00a0 Louisiana,\u00a0 also housing about 300 former research chimpanzees,\u00a0 is 75% funded by federal grants, \u00a0including the cost of a recently completed $20 million expansion.<\/p>\n Both Save the Chimps and Chimp Haven,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 must raise substantial sums toward operating costs from the public,\u00a0 in competition with numerous other primate sanctuaries,\u00a0 including Primarily Primates and the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary near San Antonio,\u00a0 Texas,\u00a0 and Project Chimps in Blue Ridge,\u00a0 Georgia.<\/p>\n How deep are the public pockets for laboratory primate retirement?<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The CDC \u201cmonkey program was in jeopardy,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm observed, \u00a0\u201ceven before it was ordered to be shut down. \u00a0A U.S. House of Representatives budget bill that sets 2026 spending levels for CDC would zero out funding for the HIV division at the agency.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Senate agrees in a final funding bill,\u201d\u00a0 Grimm reported,\u00a0 \u201cstudies on most of CDC\u2019s monkeys would end [anyway], \u00a0says a high-level agency source who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal,\u00a0 adding \u201cThere seems to be an explicit desire to stop nonhuman primate research in toto.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n In the immediate background to the Beyda order for the CDC to stop the monkey business was the October 28,\u00a0 2025 escape of 21 rhesus macaques from an overturned truck on I-59 near Heidelberg,\u00a0 Mississippi.<\/p>\n The macaques,\u00a0 on their way from the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center to another undisclosed research facility,\u00a0 were incorrectly rumored to be infected with COVID,\u00a0 herpes, \u00a0and hepatitis C.<\/p>\n Thirteen of the macaques were recaptured relatively quickly,\u00a0 five were shot by police,\u00a0 one was found dead,\u00a0 and one was shot by Jessica Bond Ferguson of Heidelberg days later in her yard.\u00a0 Ferguson told media she feared for her children\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n The last macaque was recaptured on November 6,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 after eight days at large.<\/p>\n The Heidelberg escape followed the November 6,\u00a0 2024 escape of 43 young female rhesus macaques from an Alpha Genesis research colony in Yemassee,\u00a0 South Carolina,\u00a0 some of whom remained outside the Alpha Genesis buildings,\u00a0 but on Alpha Genesis property,\u00a0 until January 25,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (See Behind the Alpha Genesis monkey \u201cgreat escape\u201d & recaptures<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEnd to CDC non-human primate research expected by the end of 2025<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cThe fate of the animals is unclear\u201d<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nAre macaque suppliers losing bet on expanding use?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe politics of science<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cWe think this will set a standard\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nBut what will become of the CDC macaques?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nHow deep are the public pockets for primate retirement?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nCDC monkey program was already at risk<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nEscapes spotlighted risks of monkey research<\/h2>\n