Nick Harvey MP has joined the controversial debate over animal testing by backing a ban on the use of primates in experiments. Mr Harvey, MP for North Devon, has signed a parliamentary petition which calls for a complete ban on all primate tests [1].
The petition, Early Day Motion (EDM) 1704 [2], was tabled at the request of the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection). It has been signed by over 150 MPs from all parties.
Animal testing is currently a hot topic: with the controversy around the Oxford lab and the drama of the TGN1412 drug trial disaster at Northwick Park, it seems that never before has the issue been examined in such depth by the public and politicians. Mr Harvey’s signing of the EDM reflects the feelings of the UK public, 76 per cent of whom are against any experiments that cause pain or distress [3].
EDM 1704 is part of the BUAV’s larger “Next of Kin” campaign to secure a ban on all primate experiments in the UK and EU [4]. The BUAV have produced a new report that gathers the latest scientific evidence showing the extent to which primates can feel pain, terror and loneliness as humans do. Primates are now widely thought to do many things once thought unique to humans, including understanding cause-and-effect and communicating emotions and meaning in a complex way. Primates can also anticipate future events based on what has happened to them in the past. Despite procedures on monkeys such as the deliberate infliction of brain damage and infecting them with contagious diseases, the report also shows that monkeys are not a reliable scientific model for human conditions – for example, decades of AIDS research on primates has failed to provide a cure or vaccine.
The European Commission are in the process of revising the Directive that governs animal experiments across the entire European Union. The BUAV and other leading animal protection organisations will be calling for a ban on primate experiments to be part of the revised Directive.
Nick Harvey MP said
“I believe that the basic needs of these sophisticated and intelligent animals can simply not be met in a laboratory setting – and that the physical differences between humans and other primates makes it impossible to reliably use them as ‘models’ for human conditions. I am happy to back a ban on primate experiments in the UK and EU.”
Alistair Currie, BUAV Campaigns Director, said:
“It’s great news that Mr Harvey is supporting the BUAV’s Next of Kin campaign to end primate testing. Using primates as disposable tools for research is not only morally wrong, but scientifically questionable as well. All primates feel pain as we do and are as distressed by laboratory life in the same way as we would be. The Government has already banned tests on the great apes: now they must take the next logical step and ban tests on all primates, without delay.”
