news release
 Uncaged's Analysis of Weatherall Report on Primate Research
NEW REPORT WHITEWASHES PRIMATE VIVISECTION
A new report (the 'Weatherall Report') commissioned by groups
in favour of animal testing has - predictably - endorsed experimentation
on primates.
As revealed by Uncaged last
spring, three of the four organisations behind the study are part of
a coalition that lobbies the government in favour of animal testing. The Academy of Medical Sciences, the Medical
Research Council (MRC), and the Wellcome Trust are all members of the
self-styled 'Coalition for Medical Progress' (CMP), a drug industry-backed
lobby group dedicated to promoting animal experiments and preventing
meaningful regulation. The fourth body, the Royal Society, also has a
long tradition of pro-vivisection lobbying.
In order to prevent dissent against the vivisection of primates, the
study organisers explicitly excluded animal welfare groups. As a result,
Uncaged and other anti-vivisection groups boycotted the study due to
a lack of confidence in the study's impartiality. This decision
has been vindicated by the report's fundamentally inaccurate picture
of primate experimentation.
For example, there was no reference to the most reliable case study
of primate experimentation in recent times - the Imutran pig-to-primate
transplant research exposed by Uncaged in 2003. The unique Imutran documentation
reveals three basic fictions put forward by the Weatherall report.
Firstly, the report assumes that researchers' belief in the benefits
of primate experimentation can be trusted. However, the Imutran affair
showed that researchers ignored evidence indicating that pig organ transplantation
was unachievable, as proved to be the case. Throughout the Weatherall
report, the consistent failure of primate vivisection in relation to
urgent health problems such as HIV/AIDS is glossed over. This complacent
report sacrifices public health for the sake of pro-vivisection political
posturing.
Secondly, the report gives the impression that primates do not endure
significant suffering in lab experiments. But in the Imutran research,
monkeys and baboons were subjected to severe and macabre transplantation
surgery and then dosed with massive doses of toxic immune-suppressing
drugs. The fate of this baboon, recorded by the researchers themselves,
is typical: X214f was observed on her last day: 'Collapsed on cage
floor. Abdomen swollen and appears fluid filled. Salivating. Very laboured
breathing. Extreme difficulty trying to walk'.
Thirdly, the report repeats the myth that experiments on primates are
strictly regulated. However, the publication of the Imutran documents
was permitted because of evidence that Imutran and Home Office inspectors
had colluded to avoid the regulations. Many monkeys were either found
dead or in severe ill-health before they were put down, in clear breach
of the law. No researcher has been punished and the Home Office has consistently
blocked an independent inquiry.
The final nail in the coffin for the Weatherall report's credibility
is the fact that having ignored reliable primary evidence of primate
experiments, instead it merely links to CMP's sanitised footage.
Interestingly, the report has drawn criticism from a very broad range
of groups. Even the National Centre for the 3Rs - a body which
accepts animal research in principle and is part of the MRC - complained
about the failure of the report to even suggest a road map for the replacement
of primate experiments.
Uncaged Campaigns 12.12.06 |
