Several species of primates of biomedical 
importance are listed as Endangered or 
Threatened under the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973. Section 7 of the Act directs all 
Federal agencies, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Interior, to insure that actions 
authorized, funded, or carried out by them do 
not jeopardize the continued existence of 
listed species, in the United States or in for¬ 
eign countries. Responsibilities for this con¬ 
sultation have been delegated to the Fish 
and Wildlife Service, which has published 
“Interagency Cooperation Regulations” re¬ 
quiring every Federal agency to review its 
own actions to determine whether they may 
affect listed species, and to initiate consulta¬ 
tion with the director of the service for all ac¬ 
tivities which may affect listed species. 
Accordingly, the National Primate Plan was 
subjected to the section 7 consultation 
process. The resulting biological opinion, of 
the director. Fish and Wildlife Service, states 
that adoption of the plan as a national policy 
for the acquisition and use of primates for 
biomedical purposes is not likely to jeopar¬ 
dize the continued existence of listed species. 
The Interagency Primate Steering Commit¬ 
tee, and the participating agencies, recog¬ 
nize their obligation to initiate section 7 
consultation whenever they contemplate an 
activity to implement the plan which may 
affect listed species. 
