Posted on 06/03/2006 1:24:29 PM PDT by billorites
Experiments on non-human primates are the only option for some areas of medicine, according to a report published by the UK’s Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust on Friday. The report lists medical advances that they claim would have been impossible without experiments on monkeys.
The publication of the report looks set to aggravate a bitter propaganda war between pro- and anti-vivisectionists trying to win public support on the issue of primate experiments. On Monday, a report is expected to be launched by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection calling for a complete ban on monkey experiments in the UK on moral as well as scientific grounds.
At the heart of the debate is a controversial animal testing laboratory under construction at the University of Oxford, which will be used to investigate neurological diseases through experiments on monkeys. It has been the focus of ongoing protests by animal rights campaigners and more recently by pro-vivisection groups such as ProTest.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Wellcome Trust director Mark Walport told journalists: “No one likes doing primate experiments, but some research can only be done on monkeys.”
He said vaccines for polio, life-support systems for premature babies, kidney dialysis treatments and stroke rehabilitation techniques have all come about as a result of testing on primates, as have treatments for Parkinson’s disease and measures to prevent blindness in the elderly. Future medical research involving primates will also be vital to identify treatments for HIV, he added.
One example is the development of deep-brain stimulation treatments for Parkinson’s, in which electrodes are permanently implanted in patients' brains to prevent the tremors associated with the disease.
Tipu Aziz, the Oxford neurosurgeon who pioneered the treatment, told journalists that monkey experiments were essential to its development. His team was attempting to suppress the activity of a part of the brain called the subthalamic nucleus, which is overactive in Parkinson’s and causes the characteristic tremors. “When electrodes were put into this target in monkeys, we saw a dramatic alleviation of symptoms,” he said.
In all, about 150 monkeys were used in research worldwide to perfect the technique, and the devices have now been implanted in 40,000 patients.
“Until it was discovered that the primate model accurately mimicked Parkinson’s disease, there was virtually no advance in treatments,” said Aziz.
Roger Lemon of the Institute of Neurology in London added that primates were indispensable for research in virtually all human neurological conditions that affect cognition.
But “Next of Kin”, a report to be launched on 5 June by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection argues that monkeys suffer the same kind of pain, anxiety and anticipation as would humans put in the same situation.
“It’s not that they are so much like us they shouldn’t be experimented on,” says the report’s author Gill Langley. “It comes down to pain and suffering. Like humans, they know the pain is coming, they remember pain and are susceptible to non-physical pain, suffering anxiety if they’re isolated socially from other monkeys.”
She says there is no halfway house. “We can argue about the science forever, but what I’ve never heard is any clear scientific explanation for moral discrimination.”
Langley’s report cites recent studies suggesting that like humans and great apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees, which cannot be used in experiments in the UK and many other countries, macaques and other smaller monkeys are more aware of themselves and of others than was previously thought, giving them an equivalent moral status.
Anyone have valve surgery or bypass surgery recently? These vital life saving surgeries would never have come into being had it not been for animal experimentation. I, for one, am glad they came about because I would be dead now if not for having had my mitral valve sewn back together. Thanks to all the Docs who made it possible and to the monkeys and chimps who gave their all so I, and millions of other HUMANS, could live.
I can't think of anything that is "essential". It depends on "or else..." naturally.
The justification ought depend on many factors to be judged by the right people. Least and lastly- populist whims from politicians.
Save the monkeys.....experiment on liberals, they're almost human.
Saving human life isn't essential in your opinion? Hope you never have to have surgery that depended on experimentation on primates or other animals to perfect and if you do I guess you will turn it down in order to stand on your pricinples, right?
As for the "right" people, I believe I am one of them because I had my life saved by these procedures and can attest to the fact many others had their lives saved at the same time(there were many in the hospital with me going through the same procedures).
Only a total idiot would say animal lives are more important than humans.
All in agreement. My point was that if one tortures a chimp to see whether it morphs into a penguin, then such an experiment has no potential to save human life.
Research, primate experiments, and process development in most countries is thoroughly reviewed, approved, and performed by "the right people", meaning accredited MDs and PhDs in good standing.
You'd probably enjoy the book King of Hearts by G. Wayne Miller quite a bit. It's an amazing story, perhaps most amazing is the amount of resistance the open heart pioneers faced from their peers.
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