Ban primate experimentation in the UK

    Britain is the largest user of primates for research in Europe. They are used in research because they are genetically similiar to humans. However, no matter how similar they are they are not the same. The fundamental differences between primates and humans make testing on the useless at best and dangerous at worse.
For example:

• An arthritis drug (Opren) is known to have killed 61 people even though it has been safely tested on monkeys.
  
• The so called 'elephant-man' drug was tested on 25 monkeys and shown to be quite safe. However, it was tested on 6 healthy, human volunteers who suffered organ failure as a result.
• Another arthritis drug (Flosint) was tested on monkeys and they tolerated the medication well. In humans it caused deaths.
• Doses for an asthma drug were worked out on monkeys but were too high for humans. This caused the deaths of thousands of people.
• Thousands of chimapnzees have been experimented on in the hope of finding a cure for AIDS; Chimpanzees recover from AIDS whereas humans do not.

    After 20 years the European Union laws that govern animal testing across Europe and the UK are being revised. However, this does not offer a total ban on animal testing. The aim of the Directive is to improve standards for millions of animals and provides the possibility of a ban on primate testing.

    Britain is the largest user of primates for research in Europe. They are used in research because they are genetically similiar to humans. However, no matter how similar they are they are not the same. The fundamental differences between primates and humans make testing on the useless at best and dangerous at worse.
For example:

• An arthritis drug (Opren) is known to have killed 61 people even though it has been safely tested on monkeys.
  
• The so called 'elephant-man' drug was tested on 25 monkeys and shown to be quite safe. However, it was tested on 6 healthy, human volunteers who suffered organ failure as a result.
• Another arthritis drug (Flosint) was tested on monkeys and they tolerated the medication well. In humans it caused deaths.
• Doses for an asthma drug were worked out on monkeys but were too high for humans. This caused the deaths of thousands of people.
• Thousands of chimapnzees have been experimented on in the hope of finding a cure for AIDS; Chimpanzees recover from AIDS whereas humans do not.

    After 20 years the European Union laws that govern animal testing across Europe and the UK are being revised. However, this does not offer a total ban on animal testing. The aim of the Directive is to improve standards for millions of animals and provides the possibility of a ban on primate testing.

    We, the undersigned, believe that primate research is cruel, unreliable, futile and potentially dangerous. Stopping animal research will not mean an end to medial research.

    There is a whole stream of human based tests available that are fast, accurate and modern. These include:

• Human cells, tissue and segments of DNA being processed and assessed through highly sophisticated rapid screening techniques.

• Clinical case studies: monitoring illness in individual patients.

• Post-mortem studies: examining the bodies of people who have died can give clues about disease.

• Sophisticated MRI, CAT and PET scanners allow detailed analysis of the brains and other organs of conscious patients without surgery.

• Computer modelling with the use of sophisticated computers. These computers can imitate the workings of the human body and duplicate the spread of disease so that researchers can predict how drugs will work and what effect they will have.

• Microdosing: tiny amounts of an experimental drug are tracked in the human body by radioactive labelling.

• Studying and comparing groups of people to analyse health problems.

                    Thank you for taking the time to read this letter,