[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 51 (Monday, December 25, 2000)]
[Pages 3144-3145]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and 
Protection Act

December 20, 2000

    I am today signing into law H.R. 3514, the ``Chimpanzee Health 
Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act.'' This Act is a valuable 
affirmation of the Federal Government's responsibility and moral 
obligation to provide an orderly system to ensure a secure retirement 
for surplus Federal research chimpanzees and to meet their lifetime 
needs for shelter and care. However, I sign this measure with 
reservations concerning flaws in the bill that the next Administration 
and the Congress should correct to ensure the viability and 
effectiveness of the proposed sanctuary system.
    The Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to 
establish a sanctuary system of lifetime care for chimpanzees that have 
been used by Federal Government entities for research and that are 
determined to be no longer needed for research. The sanctuary system is 
to be operated by a nonprofit private entity with appropriate expertise 
under contract with the Secretary, under standards established by the 
Secretary and meeting the criteria established in the Act. Chimpanzees 
accepted into the sanctuary system may be used for further research only 
if stringent conditions are met, including a determination by the 
sanctuary operator's board that the research design minimizes harm to 
the chimpanzee. At the Secretary's discretion, and upon payment of such 
fees as the Secretary may establish, chimpanzees that are not ``surplus 
chimpanzees'' from Federal research programs may be accepted into the 
system.
    Certain aspects of this Act will require amendment to eliminate 
defects relating to biomedical research and to the viability of the 
proposed sanctuary system.
    The Act puts severe constraints on use of a chimpanzee for further 
research, once it has been declared ``surplus'' and accepted into the 
sanctuary system. Before it could thereafter be used, other than for 
noninvasive behavioral research, the Secretary must determine that 
extremely stringent criteria are met concerning the indispensability of 
that particular chimpanzee and the key nature of the research. In 
addition, the board of directors of the nonprofit entity operating the 
sanctuary must determine that the research design minimizes physical and 
mental harm to the chimpanzee--a determination that can be set aside 
only if the Secretary finds it arbitrary or capricious. Finally, the 
Secretary's and board's determinations must be published for a public 
comment period of not less than 60 days. The National Institutes of 
Health (NIH) and other HHS components using chimpanzees in research 
already employ a rigorous screening procedure required by law to assess 
the necessity and quality of any research using chimpanzees. The added 
criteria mandated by H.R. 3514 are complex and give insufficient weight 
to important public health issues, which could prevent or delay valuable 
biomedical research. In addition, of the total number of chimpanzees 
that have participated in biomedical research, over 250 are currently 
being maintained by NIH at a military installation. These chimpanzees 
may or may not be declared surplus, and I am signing this legislation 
with the understanding that implementation will neither conflict with 
the installation's military mission, nor further burden the 
installation's national security requirements.
    Other concerns about H.R. 3514 relate to the administrative 
structure and funding of the proposed sanctuary system. Prescriptive 
details concerning organization and management, notably with respect to 
the qualification, terms, and role of the nonprofit operator's board of 
directors, eliminate flexibility to respond appropriately to unforeseen 
and varied circumstances. The requirement to contract with a single 
nonprofit entity to operate the sanctuary system presents the risk that, 
if that entity withdraws or ceases to qualify for the contract, there 
will be no alternatives for placement of the chimpanzees in the system. 
In addition, the bill virtually eliminates any Federal role in the 
operation or oversight of the system, although the Federal Government 
will remain responsible for the welfare of the chimpanzees accepted into 
the system.
    Despite the concerns detailed above, I am approving H.R. 3514. My 
Administration

[[Page 3145]]

agrees with the bill's sponsors about the Federal Government's 
obligation to provide comprehensive, compassionate lifetime care to 
chimpanzees that are no longer needed in federally supported research. 
The Act provides a statutory framework for a sanctuary system in 
fulfillment of this obligation. I am confident that the executive branch 
and the Congress can work together to satisfactorily resolve the 
problems inherent in the legislation in its current form.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 December 20, 2000.

Note: H.R. 3514, approved December 20, was assigned Public Law No. 106-
551.