Sympathy for chimpanzees has substantially cut back on their abuse in laboratories. So why are monkeys fair game for experimentation?
In the UK, alone, over 2000 monkeys a year are subjected to experiments that rarely lead to any breakthrough in medical science. This, despite the fact that monkeys have well-developed nervous systems and high intelligence--just like apes. Most of this experimentation on monkeys has no direct application to curing human diseases. Animal testing for any reason is controversial, but the least we can do is respect animal life enough to conduct only those animal experiments that lead directly to cures. Please join with me in asking the UK parliament to crack down on monkey experiments that do not have direct application to interventional medicine.