|
| ... and why we should be worried about the increasing influence of Radical Animal Rightists (RAR's) in our public and political domains. |
| Why our society should support animal (in particular monkey) research: | |
| Experimental animals are indispensible for the Biomedical (Life) Sciences (vividly exemplified by this poster). ). This point was already made very clear in 2004 in the Volkskrant (in Dutch), but is still denied (with increasing noise) by Radical Animal Rightists (RAR's). They continue to use the same misguided mantras from the 1800's, even today ........ | |
| The necessity to use animals in Life Sciences research has been widely recognized by the public, and the use of animals in research is strictly embedded in International law: | |
| see 1: | The 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. |
| and 2: | and also: Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) for a responsible explanation as to why experimental animals are absolutely necessary in Biomedical research. |
| There are many successful Medical applications resulting from animal research in the Neurosciences! | |
| 1. | See the Examples of the American Society for Neuroscience. |
| 2. | Also visit this website. It provides the many arguments and discussions that researcher can and should have to defend their work against RAR attacks. |
| 3. | And up-to-date: lots of information about the how, what and why of animal research and about an upcoming conference in 2026 in the UK. |
| 4. | Spectacular examples of an application derived from primate research in Neuroscience: Neuro-prosthetics in the Pittsburgh Motor Lab of prof. Andrew Schwartz (on Multimedia, click on their videos!). |
| Why rhesus monkeys? | |
| 1A | See this pamphlet, which explains why many often-mentioned alternatives do not, and perhaps never will, work to get the highly needed understanding of the brain |
| 1B | This excellent explanatory material from th British Wellcome Trust/Medical Research Council |
| 1C | For a thorough argumentation, don't miss the Weatherall Report from English science organizations (a.o. the Wellcome Trust), and |
| 1D | this excellent review paper in the Lancet (2008), one of the most renowned journals of the Biomedical sciences. |
| 1E | Finally, the Sher Report, 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). |
| In need of some convincing arguments against animal-activism from researchers? See: Enough is enough! (from Ringach/Jentsch, neuroscience researchers using non-human primates, in the Journal of Neurophysiology, 2009). | |
| Why is human fMRI not an alternative for rhesus monkeys? | |
| 1. | See this article from Nikos Logothetis in Nature 2008. Logothetis is one of the world's most renowned Neuroscientists, and thé expert on the relationship between fMRI signals and brain activity. After endless threats and fake accusations from RAR's, and also because direct support from this immediate environment (politicians/boards) was lacking, he eventually decided to continue his non-human primate career in China.... |
| 2. | Also see 'Ik heb een droom' from H. Op de Beeck (2009, in Dutch, but you can use ChatGPT...), a former monkey researcher who formulates some excellent answers to this question. |
| Do you have serious interest i the real details of Neuroscience experiments with non-human primates? This website describes the living conditions, and this website the experimental and surgical manipulations, which are currently implemented in monkeys for Neuroscience labs (here in the Logothetis lab in the International Center for Primate Brain Research in China). | |
| 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)! | |
| About rhesus monkeys in Neuroscience research | |
| Despite the relentless demonisation of researchers by RAR's and their allies, Neuroscientists are in fact guided by humane principles regarding their experimental animals, which can be summarized by the 3 R's and 5 F's: R1. Replacement, whenever possible, by a 'lower' animal model or an alternative research method R2. Refining of the experimental manipulations to reduce the discomfort to the animal as much as possible, R3. Reduction of the number of animals to the absolute minimum required to reliably answer the research question, and on top of that, the following five basic freedoms for experimental animals are respected and implemented as much as possible: F1. Free from hunger, malnutrition, and thirst; F2. Free from fear, loneliness and despair; F3. Free from heat, cold, stress and physical distress; F4. Free from pain, injury and illness, and F5. Free to express normal social behavior. (compare this to the treatment of commercial and veterinary animals like cows, sheep, pigs and chickens....) | |
| 1. | The rhesus monkeys display their normal behaviour in their cages!. See this mp4-movie (1 min.), in which two monkeys are meticulously grooming, unperturbed by the presence of the camera man. |
| 2. | Zie ook dit langere 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 other's intentions! (both movies work with a VLC plug-in in your browser). |
| Finally RAR's: | |
| 1. | 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). |
| 2. | The ADC flyered with great enthusiam! (13/9/2011). Here, you find an annotated version of their little folder, which describes the horrors to which monkey 'Suzy'. is subjected in Nijmegen. |
| 3. | In response to terrorist actions by RAR's in Venray: Stop RAR's! (starting in the Netherlands) |
| 5. | The Day of the Exprimental Animal (held on April 24,2009) was Entirely Misleading! (then, but unfortunately, nothing has changed .....). The 'Inconvenient Truth" behind the anti-vivisectionism of RAR's. |
| 6. | A new low in hypocrisy around the use or animals (from NRC Next of October 20, 2012). Not a single soul payed any attention to his; also note the strikingly mild tone of the Dutch Animal Protection movement. |
| 7. | News item about Veganism (Volkskrant, Sept 13, 2011; in Dutch). Good illustration of where RAR people like to put their priorities: their children vs. animals. |