Not enough apes for scientific experiments, finds Swedish survey
A shortage of primates for medical research is preventing global efforts to find a cure for AIDS and other diseases, says a team of Swedish experts from Uppsala University. The first global audit of non-human primate studies, published in the New Scientist magazine, identified 4,411 studies with experiments performed on more than 41,000 individual animals. The Swedish researchers estimated that up to 200,000 primates could be used in scientific research each year. However, they added, although these figures seem high, they actually mask an acute shortage of monkeys and apes available for scientific research. Demand for these animals has risen in recent years, partly because of the need to use species closely related to humans in HIV and AIDS research. 'The shortfall,' say the researchers 'could be slowing ground-breaking advances into neurological disease, HIV, drug development and genetics.' Because of the shortages, many research proposals have had to be abandoned Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the UK's Medical Research Council, told the New Scientist: 'It's absolutely true there is a significant shortage of primates given the research needs, which are still considerable.' He added that despite 'huge pressure not to use the animals', conducting experiments on monkeys is the only option in a number of research areas. As well as holding up the search for lifesaving treatments, the shortage of primates is also affecting animal welfare, said Hans-Erik Carlsson, who led the Swedish study. Indeed, scientists often need to reuse individual primates in multiple studies. 'I have seen some protocols where they have been used as many as six or seven times,' explained Dr Carlsson. As research papers often fail to state the conditions primates were kept in, or their research history, it is also, difficult to measure the scientific validity of experiments and more difficult for scientists to know if they are correctly reproducing each others' work.
Kraje
Sweden