The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) was a New York University research facility founded in 1965 by Edward Goldsmith and Jan Moor-Jankowski.
The documentary chronicled James Mahoney's efforts to save approximately one hundred primates prior to the closure of the facility.
One of the likely contributing factors to the demise of LEMSIP was the revision of the caging requirements prescribed by the USDA.
Moor-Jankowski, a member of the French Academy of Medicine, accused NYU in 1996 of his ousting as director of LEMSIP.
He alleged that this act was retaliation for whistle-blowing on former NYU primate addiction researcher Ron Wood.