Societal acceptance of animal experimentation has largely been based on the assumption that these tests, as distressing and ethically distasteful 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.
The sheer scale of animal experimentation in Australia would shock most people. In 2018 it was estimated to be over ten million animals, hundreds of them non-human primates, who were subjected to experiments in the name of science.