Burning Issue: Should we impose ban on all primate experiments in Scottish laboratories?

Published on Wednesday 7 January 2009 20:57

Yes DAVID MARTIN Scottish Labour MEP

WE ALL want to see scientific and medical progress – but not at any price. The reality of primate testing is that intelligent, sentient animals such as marmosets and macaques are imprisoned in laboratories, subjected to invasive procedures and often killed at the end of the process. These animals are our closest relatives and it is abhorrent they should undergo such suffering.

Animal testing can also add up to bad science. In the past 25 years, dozens of primate-tested HIV vaccines have failed in human trials, while not one has succeeded. Almost 100 stroke drugs have passed animal tests but have failed in human trials. Six young volunteers almost lost their lives in 2006, when they were given a dose of a drug called TGN 1412 that had been tested at far higher doses in animals.

And all this at a time when alternatives to animal testing offer almost limitless potential for better science. Population studies, brain imaging and in vitro cell cultures can provide useful data that applies to humans, not to other animals; and techniques such as micro-dosing can provide a true picture of how treatments are absorbed and responded to by human bodies.

There is a shocking irony in the fact that Scotland, with its vibrant, forward-looking scientific community, should be the primate testing-capital of Europe. Nearly one in ten experiments on primates in the EU takes place in Scotland – that amounted to 952 primates used in 1,213 procedures in 2007. This year, as we start to make progress towards a new European directive, I want Scotland to become a leader in replacing these outmoded experiments with humane, effective alternatives.

No

PROF RICHARD SHARPE

Medical Research Council Human Reproductive Sciences Unit

AS A medical researcher, I have spent more than 30 years investigating reproductive disorders that cause fertility problems. Marmoset monkeys have a reproductive system similar to humans and have helped us discover that some fertility problems experienced by young men began when they were developing in their mother's womb or just after they were born. The consequences aren't seen until 20 to 30 years later and the incidence appears to be increasing. I've been trying to understand why and how we can prevent more people from experiencing infertility in the future.

For ethical reasons, we can't collect blood or other samples from babies. We therefore use animals to monitor the development of the testes and relate this to disorders that emerge in adulthood. Computerised models or test-tube studies cannot replace what we can learn using a model of the whole animal system in this way.

Primates are used only when there is no other way to advance our knowledge. But to be able to use a primate in his work, a scientist must demonstrate that its use is justified to four bodies: the institute they work in, the Home Office, a research ethics committee and the organisation that is funding their research.

We create an environment for the animals to ensure they are as comfortable and well cared for as possible. I believe strongly I should use my scientific understanding and expertise to alleviate human suffering. I know this can't be done effectively or safely without experiments using animals. A ban on primate research in Scotland would leave us unable to tackle these fertility issues and other important areas of medical research which benefit and save lives.