the human primate—man. These animals are man's closest relatives in 
the animal kingdom and are therefore indispensable allies in the effort 
to understand and control problems of human health. Without their use, 
such essential activities as the production of poliomyelitis vaccine 
would be seriously curtailed. The use of primates as experimental 
models has been required to increase our knowledge and understanding of 
many human disease processes including infectious diseases such as 
hepatitis; neoplastic diseases such as cancer; diseases of organ systems, 
especially within the cariovascular system; and the parasitic diseases 
such as malaria. New knowledge yet to be discovered can be expected to 
depend upon the availability of these animals. The actual application 
of the fruits of research to man, also, depends to a large extent on 
nonhuman primates. Without preliminary testing in these animals, the 
risks may be too great to apply theoretical knowledge directly to man 
himself. 
The 34,000 additional nonhuman primates needed in 1977 comprise some 35 
different species, each possessing specific characteristics of particular 
value in meeting national health needs. The relative importance of each 
of these species is continually changing. Some notable influences 
causing this change are: (1) an acceleration in the state of the art 
of biomedical research resulting in an increasing need for a larger 
number and wider variety of animal models more closely related to man; 
(2) the identification of characteristics not previously recognized, 
peculiar to a species, which makes them particularly desirable as models 
of human disease, and (3) the substitution for species now in short 
supply. A discussion of the major species in relation to these influences 
and other factors can be found in appendix B. A summary of primate uses 
is presented here in table 1. 
2 
