Why our society should be pro animal research.
... and why should be very worried about the increasing influence of Radical Animal Rightists (RARs) in the public and political domains.
Why animal research?
Experimental animals are indispensible for the Biomedical (Life) Sciences (exemplified by this poster). This point was already made very clear in 2004 in the Volkskrant (in Dutch), but is still denied (with increasing loudness) by Radical Animal Rightists (RAR's). They continue to use the same misguided mantras, even today ........
The necessity to use animals in research in the Life Sciences has been widely recognized by the public, and the use of animals in research is strictly embedded in European (and American) law: The New European Directive 2010/63/EU (approved by the European Parliament in October, 2010) demonstrates the careful weighting of interests between animal welfare/discomfort and medical-scientific necessity.
See: Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) for a responsible explanation as to why experimental animals are absolutely necessary in Biomedical research.
Read (and sign here !) the Basel Declaration of November 2010 (now in three different languages), signed by hundreds of European scientists who commit to, and communicate about, ethically guided research with experimental animals in their laboratories.
Succesful Medical applications resulting from animal research in the Neurosciences: Download Brochures from the American Society for Neuroscience.
Why (rhesus) monkeys?
Why rhesus monkeys in Neuroscience? 1A. See this pamflet (explains why often mentioned alternatives (like fMRI) do not, or will never, suffice), and this evenhanded 1B. Information package of the British Wellcome Trust/Medical Research Council.
Why rhesus monkeys in Neuroscience? 2A. The Weatherall report and this very clear 2B. Review article from The Lancet (2008), one the most prestigious journals in the Biomedical Sciences.
Why rhesus monkeys in Neuroscience? 3. The SCHER report (2009) that followed after a lengthy and broad discussion between the public (among which anti vivisecionists), experts, industry, and politicians and eventually led to the widely recognized view within the European Parliament that the use of monkeys (not apes!) in both fundamental and translational and applied research in the Biomedical Sciences is necessary. This view is laid down in the New Directive of the EU (see above).
Need some convincing arguments against animal rightists from the researchers themselves? See: Enough is enough! (by Ringach/Jentsch, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2009).
Why is human fMRI not an alternative for rhesus monkeys? See this 1. Review article of Nikos Logothetis in Nature 2008. Logothetis is a world-leading Neuroscientists, and considered to be THE expert on the relationship between the fMRI BOLD signal and actual brain activity of neurons.
Why is human fMRI not an alternative for rhesus monkeys? See 2. 'Ik heb een droom' van H. Op de Beeck (2009) (in Dutch) a former monkey researcher who provides a convincing list of arguments.
Spectacular example of the use of monkeys in Neuroscience: Neuro-prosthetics in the Pittsburgh Motor Lab of prof. Andrew Schwartz (on Multimedia, click on their videos!)
Are you seriously interested, and curious about the real details of Neuroscience experiments with non-human primates?
This website provides full descriptions of the experimental and surgical procedures as currently used (at least in Western and Japanese labs) world-wide in primate Neuroscience (from the Tübingen Max Plank Institute for Brain Research).
How distressful, painful and severe would an implant on the monkey's skull actually be? See here how very comparable implants (so-called Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids, or BAHA's) are now routinely used in unilateral deaf humans, who thus regain near-normal hearing through vibratory bone conduction (explanation in Dutch)!
Rhesus monkeys in Neuroscience
The rhesus monkeys display their normal behaviour in their cages! 1. See this mp4-movie (1 min.), in which two monkeys are meticulously grooming, unperturbed by the presence of the camera man (movie may require a VLC plug-in).
The rhesus monkeys display their normal behaviours in their cages! 2. See this mp4-movie (5.5 min.), , showing two monkeys that have been put together in the same space for the first time (one monkey with, one without an implant). The monkeys actively explore each others intentions! (movie may require a VLC plug-in).
Finally: RAR's
Here you find a commented version of the pamflet of the AntiDierproefCoalitie (ADC), which is entirely based on the scientific insights of their 'expert' André Ménache (in Dutch).
On Sept 13, 2011, the ADC handed out flyers to the public about monkey Suzy , which can now be downloaded with some added comments (in Dutch).
In response (in Dutch) to the intimidations of RAR's (their profile) in Venray: Stop the RAR's (starting in the Netherlands)!
The "Dag van het Proefdier" (24 april) is Entirely Misleading. The 'Inconvenient Truth" behind Radical Animal Rightists (in Dutch).
News about Veganism (Volkskrant, Sept 13, 2011; in Dutch). Good illustration of where these people put their priorities: their children vs. animals.