Are primates protected from trade?
Sixty-one primate species and six subspecies are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, an international treaty with 160 member nations. CITES prohibits all commercial trade in species listed on Appendix I. All other primate species are listed on Appendix II of CITES, which regulates commercial trade through a permit system. In addition, the United States prohibits importation of primates as pets under a U.S. Public Health Service regulation adopted in 1975. Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, 58 primate species and five subspecies are listed as “Endangered,” and 13 species are listed as “Threatened.” The steady global demand for chimpanzees to be used in medical research prompted the United States to increase protection for this species in the late 1980s, changing its listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act from “Threatened” to “Endangered.” Today the vast majority of primates used in research in