Primate research is futile
The Royal Society, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and
the Academy of Medical Sciences conclude, predictably, that experimenting on
monkey brains is 'good science' and 'relevant.' Well, of course they would!
All four organisations have long been outspoken in their support for both
primate research and animal experimentation in general. But relevant to
what? Not to human brains - of that there is little doubt. The Weatherall
committee's report is a stage-managed sham designed to hoodwink the public
and maintain the illusion that primate research is vital.
The claim that experimenting on primates is vital for researching basic
brain function or indeed Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, AIDS and other diseases,
is contradicted by a scientific review published by patient safety
organisation Europeans for Medical Progress: "Non-human primates in medical
research and drug development: a critical review" (Biogenic Amines, Vol. 19,
No. 4-6, pp. 235-255) - available at http://www.curedisease.net/reports/index.shtml.
In summary: Primates have contributed little, if any information of clinical value to
Alzheimer's or Parkinson's treatment: virtually everything we know about
these diseases has been learned by studying patients, their tissues and
their families. "It is in human tissue that we will find the answers to these diseases," according to Dr John Xuereb, the Director of the Cambridge
Brain Bank Laboratory. Deep brain stimulation was pioneered in patients, not
monkeys.
Knowledge of visual development and other basic brain functions has come
from acute clinical observation, not experiments on monkeys. "The
applicability of this knowledge to humans is essentially nil" - according to
an opthalmologist at Harvard University Medical School .
The Northwick Park Hospital clinical trial fiasco showed that monkey
tests created a false sense of security and could never have predicted the
catastrophe, while tests in human tissue could have done. Vioxx, the world's
biggest ever drug disaster, caused 320,000 heart attacks and strokes,
despite being 'proved safe' in monkeys.
Research on primates, including great apes, has failed to produce
treatments for any of our leading killers, including heart disease, cancer,
stroke and malaria. The US Government concluded that chimpanzees are
deficient for use in AIDS research and redirected $10 million of funding.
Other primates are similarly deficient - 80 AIDS vaccines (50 preventive, 30
therapeutic) have now failed in human trials following success in primates.
Says neurosurgeon Dr Marius Maxwell: "As a practicing neurosurgeon and
former neuroscientist with almost two decades of research (including
vivisection) behind me, I know only too well that non-human primate research
has contributed little, if anything, to the treatment of patients with
neurological disorders. The great strides in our understanding and ability
to treat such disorders have resulted from human studies. Medical progress
would be better assured without experiments on monkeys, which divert
researchers' attention from genuinely productive strategies, such as
scanning patients' brains and studying human brain tissue."
Further information :
Contacts: Kathy Archibald, Director: 01728 451436 / 0779 228 9066 / kathy@curedisease.net
Shelly Willetts, Communications Director: 01424 812039
/ shelly@curedisease.net
Europeans for Medical Progress is dedicated to improving patient safety -
see www.curedisease.net