Australia’s secret primate experiments.

Societal acceptance of animal experimentation has largely been based on the assumption that these tests, as distressing and ethically disturbing as they may be, will ultimately benefit humans. But do they?

In 1963, when researchers sawed open the heads of chimpanzees and attached transmitters to their brains to control their impulses, the general public didn’t bat an eye — because no one knew. But 50 years and numerous exposés later, the world has reeled at revelations of the suffering of animals used as test subjects. Yet researchers are still using and killing primates — and they’re doing it right here, in our own backyard.

Most people are unaware of how extensive animal experimentation is in Australia. In 2018 it was estimated to be over ten million animals, hundreds of them non-human primates, who were used in research — even as scientific understanding increasingly shows that animal models often don’t translate to humans.

For an experiment to pass an ‘ethics test’, researchers must prove that the potential benefits to humans outweigh the impact on the animals involved.

“A judgement as to whether a proposed use of animals is ethically acceptable … must balance whether the potential effects on the wellbeing of the animals involved is justified by the potential benefits.” — Australian Code for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes

Despite this clear governing principle, it’s questionable whether many invasive and ultimately lethal experiments have directly benefited human health and development.

In one notable Melbourne experiment in 2013, macaque monkeys had their skulls drilled into, and electrodes inserted into their brains — not to discover a cure for a fatal disease, but instead to measure their attention spans. To add insult to fatal injury, the results of the test cannot be directly applied to humans because, for all our similarities to non-human primates, our brains — specifically our visual processing centres — are fundamentally different.

Such is the conflict at the very heart of animal experimentation.

When a baby gorilla is born in a zoo in Victoria it makes news headlines — and upon the death of a captive gorilla, the community grieves. When a chimpanzee at the zoo fell ill she was given all the tender care of a human patient — and yet, every day in institutions across the country, hundreds of their primate cousins are hidden away to be used in cruel experiments.

There are three government-approved primate breeding facilities in Australia that supply monkeys for experimentation to universities and institutions. These experiments primarily involve macaque monkeys, marmosets and baboons. A veil of secrecy hides the suffering of the animals within these labs from public scrutiny.

In addition to the three ‘home-grown’ primate breeding facilities, between 2000 and 2009 Australia imported some 640 macaques from Indonesia for research purposes. Many breeds of this species are considered critically endangered due, in most part, to habitat destruction and illegal poaching. Help spare macaques being captured and sold for cruel experiments here.

While Australia has a policy against importing wild-caught animals, a lack of accountability throughout the importation process makes the policy almost impossible to enforce.

Animal researchers and breeding institutions in Australia receive millions of taxpayer dollars every year in grants that support animal tests. Hundreds of thousands of animals are used, and many of them are destroyed, for the purposes of medical, pharmacological and toxicity testing — despite the fact that experimentation on animals has consistently been found to be poorly predictive of similar tests and treatments in humans.

Even primates, our closest living relatives, have significant genetic differences that can make applying the results of their tests to human patients ineffective at best — and lethal at worst. In fact, the argument can be made that in many cases animal experimentation delays human medical progress.

We live in a truly remarkable age — where 3D printers can restore mobility and dignity to people (and animals!) who have lost their limbs, and research groups are well on their way to being able to ‘custom make‘ body parts and organs. This is modern, human-relevant science that is better for people and animals.

Animal-free Science Advocacy has a wealth of information detailing alternatives to animal testing — cruelty-free options that showcase human ingenuity, and compassion, at their best.

In the immortal words of David Attenborough, in the BBC documentary Natural World: Clever Monkeys, non-human primates have shown us, time and time again, that they share our sense of society and adventure, family and compassion, life, death — and freedom.

At the very least these intelligent and sophisticated animals deserve our respect and kindness — not a life of fear and suffering in a cage.

Here’s how you can help create a kinder future for these remarkable animals:

• Write an email or letter to your MP urging them to end the importation of animals for use in scientific research and to ban primate experiments.
• Help spare wild and endangered monkeys in Indonesia from being captured and sent around the world for cruel experiments.
• Support Animal-free Science Advocacy’s work to Ban Primate Experiments — head to their website for more information on how to help free animals from cruel and unnecessary tests.
• Choose cruelty-free products – see this list from Cruelty Free International. (While cosmetic testing on animals has been banned, animals are still used in the ‘safety testing’ of new drugs, industrial chemicals, and everyday house-hold products).

Many thanks to Animal-free Science Advocacy for sharing their research and information, and for their tireless work to end animal experimentation.