Monkeying Around with Human Health
Animal Aid Tuesday, Special report: June 2003
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Cambridge University wants to build Europe's largest primate research centre on the outskirts of Cambridge. Because the proposed development - the size of two retail superstores - would be on Green Belt land, it was the subject of a two-week public inquiry at the close of 2002. The final decision, expected in the summer of 2003, will be made by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. It will be difficult for the DPM to reject the application, given that his boss - Tony Blair - has publicly supported it. An even more enthusiastic supporter is Science Minister Lord Sainsbury - a man with his own major financial stake in the biotech industry and who, at the time of writing, had already donated £11.5 million to the Labour Party; £8.5 million since joining the government. Such inappropriate ministerial generosity seriously compromises the impartiality of the planning process. Equally, Lord Sainsbury's support of the proposed Cambridge centre is a great boon to his old university, which stands to reap large financial benefits from pharmaceutical spin-offs. The university claims the proposed primate research will advance understanding of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, stroke, depression, schizophrenia, drug addiction and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, this claim was challenged at the public inquiry by a series of medical experts who highlighted the long history of failures of primate experimentation. They revealed that the true origin of progress in neuroscience has always been human-based research and that future human studies hold the key to finding treatments for these devastating diseases. An editorial in New Scientist (23rd November 2002) also sounded a note of caution on the proposed labs: 'The projected cost of the new centre is £24 million. The university publicly proclaims that the centre will find treatments for particular brain disorders but admitted in its evidence that "much of the research will be more basic".' The article went on to warn that 'exaggerating the medical relevance of animal experiments is unacceptable whether it is for the purposes of PR or gaining grants... If the experiments are unlikely ever to lead to treatments, they should be beyond the pale.' The following is a selection of statements submitted to the inquiry:
Centre of excellence The UK - and indeed, Cambridge University - could be a centre of excellence in neuroscience without resorting to animal use. The Neurosciences Research Institute at Aston University is a prime example of such foresight, with its new 'Academy of Life Sciences' scheduled to open in April 2004. The £8 million Academy will provide the opportunity for innovative cross-disciplinary work by the integration of clinically related research in neuroscience. It will include research groups working on behavioural and cognitive sciences, neuro-imaging, vision and ophthalmology. World-class research on human brains, both living and post-mortem, such as that conducted at Aston University, the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre and Cambridge Brain Bank, is the key to the future of neuroscience. It is time the public knew that using nonhuman primates is archaic and dangerous to human health. A facility to study the brains of monkeys rather than humans would be a foolish and expensive monument to the past. 'The true enemy of excellence is conservatism, an unthinking adherence to the shibboleths of the past' - The Observer, 17 Nov 2002, Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government, Oxford University. Current primate research at Cambridge University Additionally, the BUAV published a report in May 2002 arising out of a ten-month undercover investigation of Cambridge University's primate brain research programme (www.buav.org/zerooption). The report reveals shocking evidence of animal suffering and a number of breaches of Home Office licence regulations. The cutting edge The BUAV investigation additionally revealed that several aspects of housing and husbandry at Cambridge contravened the Universities For Animal Welfare guidelines. Before and after surgery the monkeys were deprived of water for 22 hours per day to force them to perform the tasks for which they were being trained. Food restriction was also employed as a motivational tool. Stress is inevitable if animals are unable to drink when thirsty or can see cage-mates being fed while they are not. Yet the university stated in its Cambridge inquiry evidence that 'it is vital for the experiments that the animals are stress-free'. Most of the University's primate experiments have been performed on marmosets. But future research will focus on macaques, because marmosets' brains, Cambridge has admitted, are 'too small'. Nevertheless, a marmoset breeding unit is planned for the new centre. Clearly, their small brains will not preclude their continued use. Biohazard Viral threat to humans There is a real and potentially serious risk of an outbreak of human infection resulting from primate use and consequent disposal of their waste products and body parts into the drainage and disposal systems. Primates carry a range of diseases that can be harmful, even fatal, to humans. The herpes simian B virus, which infects 80-90% of macaques, is a classic example of a virus that can be dangerous to humans once out of its host species in whom it causes no illness. Twenty-nine people have died from B virus infection, all of them laboratory researchers or animal handlers. Marburg Disease is named after the German town where the first outbreak occurred in 1967. Twenty-nine laboratory workers became infected, suffering high fever, slow heart rate, headaches, inflammation of the eyes, stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhoea, and prostration. Seven died. They had been exposed to tissues or cell cultures from recently-imported African green monkeys. In 1989, the US authorities in New York State banned all imports of long-tailed, rhesus and African green monkeys when it was suspected that long-tailed macaques supplied from the Phillippines were infected with the lethal Ebola virus. They were actually infected with Reston Strain Filovirus, as were two other macaques in 1996. The Philippines government temporarily banned the export of monkeys while levels of filovirus infection were investigated; one facility holding animals infected with the 'Reston' virus was subsequently closed and hundreds of monkeys were destroyed. Between 1955 and 1963, millions of people were exposed to monkey virus SV40 through contaminated oral polio vaccines made from monkey kidneys. At the time, the virus was thought to be harmless. SV40 is now known to be associated with several human cancers. Nevertheless, monkey tissues are still used in vaccine production. Monkeys undoubtedly harbour innumerable viruses that science has not yet identified. Clearly, it is impossible to screen for agents that we don't yet know exist. Who can predict what perils we may unwittingly unleash upon ourselves, without even realising our mistake for years or decades? This is especially the case where disease symptoms take time to become evident - as with AIDS or CJD. Twenty-four monkeys escaped from primate research facilities in the US in March 2003 alone, illustrating that total containment, even of the live animals, cannot be assured in practice. Mistakes can and will occur. 'The public health risks associated with primate research laboratories are a matter of serious concern...Guess wrong, and people may die.' - Dr S Corning, MRCVS, International consultant on primate infectious diseases, in evidence to Cambridge University public inquiry on behalf of the International Primate Protection League. What you can do Anyone who witnessed the public inquiry will know that the only decision that could be justified as being in the public interest will be a rejection of planning permission. This is the only sustainable choice and would show an enlightened recognition of the future direction of scientific discovery.
Action Please write to your MP You can find the name and email address of your MP at www.locata.co.uk/commons or phone the House of Commons Information Office on 020 7219 4272. The address for all MPs is: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. You can contact MPs directly on 020 7219 3000. Please also write to: The Medical Research Council, The Home Office, Cambridge University, Local and national newspapers, All of these letters need only be brief and MUST be polite please. Your help is vital. Without public pressure, more and more primate labs will be built - with consequent monkey suffering and to the detriment of human health. REFERENCES Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals GB 2001, HMSO 2002 |