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New Zealand has decided not to grant basic “human rights” to chimps and other
non-human great apes. Instead, a parliamentary committee has called for a ban on
experiments involving the apes unless they benefit the individual animal or the
species. The recommendation is expected to become law within six months, as part
of the country’s new Animal Welfare Bill. The proposed legislation falls far
short of the goal of the international Great Ape Project, however, which
campaigned for rights for the primates on the basis of their similarity to
people (see This Week, 13 February, p 20).