US health agency ends monkey experiments

: Press release; Published: 27 November 2025

Doctors Against Animal Experiments calls for a phase-out in Germany as well

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the world’s leading health agencies, is reportedly set to discontinue all experiments on monkeys (1). This marks another step in the United States’ shift away from animal testing. The nationwide organisation Doctors Against Animal Experiments urges the German government to follow this example and implement a ban on primate experiments. Using monkeys in laboratories is not only ethically unacceptable but also scientifically flawed. Twenty-first-century medicine requires modern human-based methods for research that is relevant to humans. The call for a phase-out is supported by a current petition to the Bundestag signed by more than 40,000 citizens.

“The CDC’s decision is both a scientific and ethical milestone,” says Dr. Johanna Walter, scientific advisor at Doctors Against Animal Experiments. “The CDC is part of the US Department of Health. That such an agency is ending all monkey experiments sends a clear message: a paradigm shift toward modern, animal-free research is possible — and already underway in the US.”

Other US agencies are increasingly focusing their research on human-relevant methods as well. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aims to replace animal experiments for the development of certain drugs with effective, human-relevant methods (2). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are expanding funding for human-relevant research approaches while simultaneously reducing support for animal-based projects (3,4). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also committed to ending animal testing for chemical approvals (5). Now another agency, the CDC, is following suit.

The CDC’s decision to end monkey experiments is motivated not only by ethical concerns but primarily by scientific ones, as the shortcomings of animal-based research are severe. Over 90% of drug candidates that appear effective and safe in animal tests — often involving monkeys — later fail in clinical trials because they do not work or are dangerous in humans (6).

Monkeys differ from humans in key aspects of immune response, metabolism, gene regulation, and infection biology. This frequently makes results from primate studies non-transferable to humans and can mislead further research (7,8).

“Monkeys may be more similar to humans than other animals, but ‘similar’ is not enough in medical research,” explains Walter. “Primates repeatedly fail as models in HIV, neurobiology, and toxicology research.” The CDC’s end of monkey experiments is therefore scientifically consistent. Germany should follow this example.

Doctors Against Animal Experiments is calling for a binding phase-out plan for all animal experiments, starting with primates, alongside major investments in modern, animal-free research such as organoids, multi-organ chips, and AI-based methods.

Together with PETA Germany, Doctors Against Animal Experiments submitted a petition to the Bundestag (9) demanding an end to experiments on non-human primates in Germany. Having gathered over 40,000 supporters, the German Bundestag must now address the issue. The petition committee’s session on this matter will take place on Monday, 1 December 2025, from 12:00 p.m. It is public and will be streamed live on the German Bundestag’s website (10).

“Germany must act now,” says Walter. “The US is showing — with more and more agencies like the FDA, NIH, EPA, and now the CDC turning away from animal experiments — that a phase-out is politically feasible and scientifically justified. Such a fundamental shift by major research agencies sends a strong signal: away from scientifically questionable animal experiments and toward modern, human-relevant methods. Anyone still clinging to animal experiments today is ignoring modern science, endangering medical progress, and knowingly causing animal suffering.”

US health agency ends monkey experiments

Doctors Against Animal Experiments calls for a phase-out in Germany as well

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