10760 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 36 / Thursday, February 23, 2012 / Notices 

Organizing Institute: Eunice Kennedy 

Shriver National Institute of Child Health 

and Human Development. 

Dates and Times: March 7, 2012, at 3 p.m. 

Place: American Psychological 

Association, 750 First Street NE., 6th Floor 

Conference Room, Washington, DC 20002. 

Agenda: A public discussion on the 

proposed reorganization plans for NICHD. 

Contact Person: Lisa Kaeser, J.D., Eunice 

Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child 

Health and Human Development, NIH, Office 

of Program and Public Liaison, 31 Center 

Drive, MSC 2425, Building 31, Room 2A03, 

Bethesda, MD 20892, 301–496–0536, 

kaeserl@mail.nih.gov. 

Members of the public wishing to 

attend must RSVP to the contact person 

on this notice by March 5, 2012 and 

bring a photo ID to facilitate security 

check-in at the building entrance. 

Any interested person may file 

written comments by sending an email 

to NICHDDirectorsOffice@mail.nih.gov, 

by March 16, 2012. The statement 

should include the individual’s name 

and, when applicable, professional 

affiliation. 

Dated: February 14, 2012. 

Alan E. Guttmacher, 

Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National 

Institute of Child Health and Human 

Development, National Institutes of Health. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4224 Filed 2–22–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Chairpersons, Boards of Scientific 

Counselors for Institutes and Centers 

at the National Institutes of Health, 

Notice of Meeting 

Notice is hereby given of a meeting 

scheduled by the Deputy Director for 

Intramural Research at the National 

Institutes of Health (NIH) with the 

Chairpersons of the Boards of Scientific 

Counselors. The Boards of Scientific 

Counselors are advisory groups to the 

Scientific Directors of the Intramural 

Research Programs at the NIH. This 

meeting will take place on March 2, 

2012, from 10 am to 2 pm, at the NIH, 

1 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, Building 

1, Room 151. The meeting will include 

a discussion of policies and procedures 

that apply to the regular review of NIH 

intramural scientists and their work. 

The meeting will be open to the 

public, with attendance limited to space 

available. Individuals who plan to 

attend and need special assistance, such 

as sign language interpretation or other 

reasonable accommodations, should 

contact Mr. Joe Kleinman at the Office 

of Intramural Research, NIH, Building 1, 

Room 160, Tel. (301) 496–1921, Fax 

(301) 402–4273, or email 

kleinmanj@mail.nih.gov in advance of 

the meeting. 

Dated: February 16, 2012. 

Lawrence Tabak, 

Deputy Director, NIH. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4210 Filed 2–22–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Request for Information (RFI): Input 

Into the Deliberations of the Council of 

Councils Working Group on the Use of 

Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported 

Research 

SUMMARY: The National Institutes of 

Health Council of Councils has 

established a working group to provide 

recommendations to the Council on: (1) 

Implementing the guiding principles 

and criteria contained within the 

Institute of Medicine report, 

‘‘Chimpanzees in Biomedical and 

Behavioral Research: Assessing the 

Necessity’’, and (2) the size and 

placement of the research active and 

inactive populations of NIH-owned or 

-supported chimpanzees. See http:// 

dpcpsi.nih.gov/council/ 

working_group.aspx for the working 

group’s charge and roster. The NIH is 

seeking public input to inform the 

working group’s deliberations. 

Background: The use of animals in 

research has enabled scientists to 

identify new ways to treat illness, 

extend life, and improve health and 

well-being. Chimpanzees are our closest 

relatives in the animal kingdom, 

providing exceptional insights into 

human biology and the need for special 

consideration and respect. While used 

very selectively and in limited numbers 

for medical research, chimpanzees have 

served an important role in advancing 

human health in the past. However, new 

methods and technologies developed by 

the biomedical community have 

provided alternatives to the use of 

chimpanzees in several areas of 

research. 

In December 2010, the National 

Institutes of Health commissioned a 

study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 

to assess whether chimpanzees are or 

will be necessary for biomedical and 

behavioral research. The IOM issued its 

findings on December 15, 2011, with a 

primary recommendation that the use of 

chimpanzees in research be guided by a 

set of principles and criteria. The 

committee proposed three principles 

which must all be applied to analyze 

current and potential future research 

using chimpanzees. 

1. That the knowledge gained must be 

necessary to advance the public’s 

health; 

2. There must be no other research 

model by which the knowledge could be 

obtained, and the research cannot be 

ethically performed on human subjects; 

and 

3. The animals used in the proposed 

research must be maintained either in 

ethologically appropriate physical and 

social environments (i.e., as would 

occur in their natural environment) or 

in natural habitats. 

Based on its deliberations, the IOM 

committee concluded that ‘‘while the 

chimpanzee has been a valuable animal 

model in past research, most current use 

of chimpanzees for biomedical research 

is unnecessary.’’ The committee also 

concluded, however, that the following 

areas may continue to require the use of 

chimpanzees: a limited number of 

ongoing studies on monoclonal 

antibody therapies, research on 

comparative genomics, and noninvasive studies of social and behavioral 

factors that affect the development, 

prevention, or treatment of disease. The 

committee was unable to reach 

consensus on the necessity of the 

chimpanzee for the development of 

prophylactic hepatitis C virus vaccine. 

While the committee encouraged NIH to 

continue development of nonchimpanzee models and technologies, it 

acknowledged that new, emerging, or reemerging diseases may present 

challenges that may require the use of 

chimpanzees. 

The Working Group is gathering input 

from various sources, including 

researchers, academic institutions, 

foundations, scientific societies, 

government and regulatory agencies, 

industry, and the public, to help inform 

the development of its 

recommendations to the Council of 

Councils on actions the NIH can take to 

implement the IOM recommendations 

and to consider the size and placement 

of the active and inactive populations of 

NIH-owned or -supported chimpanzees. 

The following are areas of their charge 

and examples of questions within each 

which might need to be considered 

when developing recommendations. 

• Developing a plan for 

implementation of the IOM’s guiding 

principles and criteria. 

• Factors to consider in reviewing 

currently active NIH-supported research 

using chimpanzees to advise on which 

studies currently meet the principles 

and criteria defined by the IOM report 

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