I recently learned that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is paying for a series of brain experiments on monkeys. A large body of research has demonstrated that monkeys are intelligent, thoughtful, social beings who suffer greatly in standard laboratory conditions, even when they are not being experimented on.

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub is a nonprofit medical research group funded by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, MD. A new paper from scientists funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub documents some of these experiments. You can find a link to the paper in an article about the project at Philanthropy News Digest.

Experiments on chimpanzees and other great apes have been banned in most countries. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has recently introduced legislation that seeks to prevent unnecessary and unethical animal testing practices on primates. The housing and experiments described in the research paper supported by Zuckerberg would be illegal under Senator Booker's bill. 

Moral rights and wrongs are not determined by laws. Laws catch up to new ways of thinking and seeing the world around us. There is a large and growing body of research demonstrating that animals of many species are sensitive thinking beings. If we believe that we should be fair and kind to other humans, there isn't a good reason not to be fair and kind to other animals.

Please ask Priscilla Chan to tell her husband that they should stop paying for any research that hurts or kills monkeys or other animals.