Every year, tens of thousands of monkeys are captured from their forest homes, stuffed into crates, and flown across the world to spend the rest of their lives in U.S. laboratories. In 2025 alone, more than 22,000 primates entered the United States for use in experiments. The bipartisan Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposures (PRIMATE) Act would put an end to this — and we need Congress to pass it now.

Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), the PRIMATE Act (HR 8471) would ban the importation of monkeys destined for laboratories or their suppliers. This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of basic decency — and a recognition that importing wild-caught primates also carries real public health risks, introducing pathogens into the country alongside every shipment.

The science backs this up. Decades of relying on primates as stand-ins for humans have produced limited results for patients in need. Meanwhile, more advanced, human-relevant research methods exist and are ready to be scaled. Passing this bill would push the pharmaceutical industry to invest in those superior tools — speeding up treatments for real people, while sparing animals from a lifetime of suffering.

The stakes for wildlife are just as serious. Long-tailed macaques — the species most commonly used in U.S. labs — are being pushed toward extinction to meet laboratory demand. Ending importation would allow their populations to recover in the wild, where they belong.

No more monkeys abducted from forests. No more crates, no more cargo holds, no more cages. Please urge your representative to co-sponsor the PRIMATE Act today.