NIH Force-Feminizes Monkeys in Absurd New Study
As reported on January 10, 2022, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is—once again—wasting taxpayer money and harming animals. This time, it’s trying to force-feminize monkeys. PETA has discovered that NIAID funded (to the tune of $205,562) a proposed experiment that would subject male rhesus macaques to feminizing hormone therapy in order to see whether it would make them more susceptible to HIV, purportedly to help trans women. But rather than holding a proper clinical study with willing human patients that would yield relevant information, these experimenters have decided to use monkeys, who can’t become infected with HIV. It’s just bad science to suggest that dosing monkeys with feminizing medication makes them good stand-ins for humans.
This study will not help prevent or treat HIV and will not help trans women.
In willing trans patients, studies show that gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy sharply reduces rates of depression and suicidal thoughts and actions, even before physical changes set in. If hormone replacement has this much impact on consenting patients, it’s horrific that NIH would fund an attempt to force-feminize monkeys—apparently without caring that the animals’ sex hormones may play an important role in their mental and physical well-being.
Monkeys don’t get HIV, and after 40 years, hundreds of thousands of dead monkeys, billions of dollars, and no vaccines on the market, you’d think NIH would put our taxpayer money into something that might actually help humans. Trans people are one of America’s most underserved and vulnerable populations, and it is insulting to them and cruel to the monkeys to waste $200,000 on an experiment that falsely claims to help humans.
PETA has already asked NIH to end HIV experiments on monkeys and instead use human-relevant, cutting-edge methods.
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