In the news
6 Sep 2008
19 March 2007
Ireland could be first to ban monkey experiments
IRELAND could become the first country in Europe and the world to ban the use of non-human primates (monkeys) in laboratory experiments.
An historic Primate Bill has been published by the Irish Green Party1 in association with the Irish Anti-vivisection Society, and calls for a total ban on the breeding and use of monkeys for experiments.
The Bill has been welcomed by the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, a leading charity funding medical research without the use of animals. The charity hopes that the UK and the rest of Europe will follow Ireland’s example2.
Says Wendy Higgins, Dr Hadwen Trust:
“This truly is progressive, forward-thinking politics in action and the UK and the rest of Europe should sit up and take notice. Subjecting highly sentient and sensitive animals like monkeys to painful and distressing experiments, as well as a lifetime of confinement in unnatural conditions, is immoral and should not be countenanced in a modern, civilized society. Primate research is not essential for medical progress either, in fact research results are all too often deeply misleading and this Bill recognises that science has moved on and non-animal methods are a better way forward.”
“The Dr Hadwen Trust researches illnesses without using any animals at all. Species differences between primates (including humans) occur at the genetic, molecular, cell and physiological levels, and have often misled researchers and delayed medical advances. The list of drugs tested on primates but later found to act differently, or to be unsafe or ineffective, in humans is testament to how unreliable primate testing is3.”.
Ireland does not currently use primates in experiments. Ten years ago the final laboratory primates to be used were released but at present there is no legislative ban preventing future primate experiments. This Primate Bill seeks to close the door on primate experiments once and for all.
Across the rest of Europe, primates are used in experiments in very high numbers. More than 4,500 primate experiments were conducted in the UK in 2005, using over 3,000 individual animals, the majority of them in toxicity tests. With nearly 12,500 primates used in research in Europe every year4, the UK remains Europe’s largest user of laboratory primates.
Says Wendy Higgins, Dr Hadwen Trust:
“Ireland is taking the lead in Europe and the rest of the world, and that is incredibly significant morally. Right now Europe is reviewing its own laws on animal experiments, and we hope that MEPs will follow Ireland’s example and support a Europe-wide ban on primate experiments. It’s an opportunity for Europe to make an historic and moral stand against deliberately subjecting our closest cousins to pain and suffering. It would also recognise that primate experiments don’t represent cutting-edge science, and provide the sort of sort of legislative impetus needed to fully embrace, harness and develop further far more relevant and reliable non-animal research techniques5.”
In 1997 the UK government imposed a voluntary ban on experiments on great apes (chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas). As in Ireland, at the time of the announcement no great apes had been used in UK research since prior to 1986. However the moral precedent that this set – declaring experiments on a species unjustified due to the animals’ sentiency – was never followed through to its obvious conclusion, a ban on all primate experiments.
Says Yvonne Smalley, IAVS Chairperson:
“Leaving aside the actual experimental procedures – many of which cause acute pain and prolonged suffering – it is, without argument, an appallingly cruel act to confine a highly intelligent and social primate alone in a standard laboratory cage. The extreme mental and physical suffering that primates are now known to experience in laboratories should preclude the use of primates being tolerated in Irish scientific circles”.
Click here to sign the Dr Hadwen Trust’s petition to replace all animal experiments in Europe.
ENDS
1 The Primate Bill was published 14 March 2007.
2 The Dr Hadwen Trust is the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity.
3 Such as Amrinone (heart drug; haemorrhage in humans); Fenclofenac (anti-inflammatory; caused jaundice in humans); Vioxx (pain-killer; risk of heart attack & stroke in humans); Fialuridine (anti-viral; liver failure in humans); Carbenoxalone (ulcers; caused heart failure in patients); 5FU (cancer; metabolic differences); Benoxaprofen (arthritis; killed some patients);
Flosequinan (heart failure; increased deaths in patients); Nomifensine (anti-depressant; liver damage in humans); Losartan (blood pressure; metabolic differences caused side effects);
Methoxyflurane (anaesthetic; caused kidney failure in humans); Indinavir (anti-AIDS drug; metabolic differences); Flosint (arthritis; lethal for humans); Isoprenaline (asthma; unsafe dose for humans).
4 There were 4652 primate experiments UK in 2005; 3,595 were for toxicology; 3,115 individual primates were used in total. Home Office publication “Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2005” published July 2006. The Dr Hadwen Trust can provide on request an overview of EU animal experiments using the latest available statistics from each Member State.
5 Review of Council Directive 86/609/EEC on the approximation of laws and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. The European Commission will produce and adopt a proposal (expected May 2007) which will be sent to the European Parliament and the Council to undergo co-decision procedure.
