Jade Lauriha

Ethics Paper

Non-Human Primates and Biomedical Research

Introduction:
When I first stumbled across this topic it caught my interest immediately. Having
always been an animal lover and more recently a vegan of 4 years I wondered if using
non-human primates for biomedical research and testing was as bad as it sounds. Its hard
to find when animal testing actually started because it was not well documented but it is
believed that it was sometime in the early nineteenth century. (Murnaghan) Since nonhuman primates and humans share about 98% of human genes it made sense that since
we are so closely related that they would have the same reactions to things as humans
would. Much of what we know today about AIDS, viruses, the brain, cancer, and
hepatitis we know from the research that was conducted on non human primates. (cabiomed)

Viewpoint One:
Biological Anthropologists study evolution and biosocial variations within
humans and non-human primates. Most either teach or do research and some will have a
part in the biomedical research done on non-human primates. This issue affects them
because they need to know where they draw the line and they need to know the pros and
cons of this type of research. Before I started researching I didnt know a lot about both
sides and have always heard the bad. I wanted to find out for myself but was pretty
certain that I would be against using non-human primates for biomedical research.

Lets start with the side arguing for using non-human primates for biomedical
research. Many people will tell you that using non-human primates for biomedical
research is the least harm for the greater good. They only test on a very small amount of
non-human primates and it helps millions of people. The U.S. alone imports about
12,000-15,000 monkeys a year for research purposes and there are laws in place to make
sure they these monkeys are not being captured from the wild. (ca-biomed) Using nonhuman primates we have been able to find vaccines for Polio, Yellow fever, Organ
transplants, some Hepatitis viruses, Blood transfusion procedures, and they have also
found that most chimpanzees are relatively resistant to AIDS. (Bontrop) Perhaps if they
figure our what they have that makes the resistant they could find a cure and save
millions of lives. Tuberculosis and Malaria take around five million lives a year and
using non-human primates for testing and studies they may be able to find a cure. For this
they feel that non-human primates are a necessity because the vaccine we currently have
for Malaria has some terrible side effects. Both of these diseases are resistant to multiple
drugs and its going to take some trial and error.
It does give many people comfort that there are very strict laws in which the
scientist must follow to experiment on non-human primates. They regulate such things as
day-to-day life for these animals and making sure that all test animals are protected in the
same ways on primates. The FDA also has regulations in place for good laboratory
practices and that is in place for human and non-human primate uses. The Animal
Welfare Act that was passed in 1966 also makes sure that every facility that is testing on
animals will have an inspection yearly.

Viewpoint Two:

Is it necessary or humane to use non-human primates for biomedical research?

Sure we have come so far but at what cost to the animals. Primates are our closest living
relatives and we share 98 percent of our genes. That makes you think that they are a lot
more human than most people give them credit for. Although non-human primates appear
to have less cognitive awareness, self-awareness, and cognitive capacities then the
average human adult that doesnt mean that they are immune to the feelings and side
effects that some of these tests give. Also not all humans have the same self-awareness
and cognitive awareness (Quigley) but that doesnt mean we should experiment on them
they way that we do these non-human primates. For accuracy purposes who is better to
test our cures and vaccines for humans than humans themselves? Results will vary
because although we are closely related to the non-human primates we do have some
differences.
It is often argued that we use very little non-human primates for the amount of
people that are helped. If that is the case then should we use a very small number of
humans for our research because after all they are helping the greater good. At least
research on vulnerable humans is of benefit to humankind. It is difficult to see how
medical research on non-human primates can ever be said to be of direct benefit to them
or to their kind. (Quigley) The table below (Reinhardt & Reinhardt) is showing how
many animals had their blood taken in their home cage or in a different cage, it shows
how many of them had to be restrained or drugged for this to happen and how many were
injected with Ketamine (a drug that causes the loss of consciousness) before they had a
venipuncture. This give a disgusting insight to what is happening and how fearful these
animals are. They wouldnt need to be drugged if they were fine with that is going on.

Conclusion:
I think that if we would like to be able to conduct these sort of tests and
experiments on non-human primates then we need to be okay conducting these types of
experiments on humans of similar capacity. I do see the need for biomedical research and
I think that it is wonderful that it has helped us this far in medical research. Million of
lives have been saved or made better by the findings and the vaccines that have been
found while using non-human primates for research. I also agree to an extent about the
least harm for the greater good, I just think that we should use our own kind for that. If
we as humans find this research absolutely necessary then we should be willing to try it
on ourselves, with consenting adults of course. However I feel that since they are so
human like we should not be allowed to experiment on them. They dont have a way to
voice that they dont like this or want to do it. I am sure if they did they would tell us.

Citations
Baily, J. (2005). Non-human Primates in Medical Research and Drug Development: A
Critical Review. Biogenic Amines (VSP International Science Publishers). 19(4-6).
235-255.
Bontrop, R.E. (2001). Non-human primates: essential partners in biomedical research.
Immunological Reviews, 183(1), 5.
http://ca-biomed.org/pdf/media-kit/fact-sheets/fs-primate.pdf
Murnaghan, Ian (2005). Animal Testing Timeline.
http://www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/animal-testing-timeline.html
Reinhardt, V., & Reihhardt, A. (2000). Blood Collection Procedure of Laboratory
Primates: A neglected Variable in Biomedical Research. Journal of applied Animal
Welfare Science, 3(4). 321-333.