Guantánamo for animals
2 November 2007 - Shocking new footage of primates held at a Guantánamo-style prison close to popular Spanish holiday resorts makes grim viewing. The controversial facility at Camarles, in the Catalonia region of Spain, supplies macaque monkeys, shipped from Mauritius, to research labs across Europe.
The film, made by an undercover investigator for the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) reveals the animals at Camarles are kept in bare concrete and metal cages under the searing Spanish sun before being sent to European laboratories to end their lives undergoing painful experiments.
Despite being bound by EU rules, the pens shown in the secretly filmed footage cannot possibly meet the animals' needs, the BUAV believes.
Catalan authorities banned the building of new primate "supply" centres in 2003 after a public outcry over the Camarles compound, reflecting wider EU public opposition to the laboratory primate trade. The BUAV's investigation shows the compound is being expanded in defiance of such public concern, to grow its housing capacity from 1,000 to 3,000 monkeys.
The BUAV has written to Catalan, Spanish and EU authorities with its evidence to demand a review of the supply centre's ongoing business. More importantly, it has demanded Spanish, UK and EU authorities consider the BUAV's evidence as part of an overwhelming case for banning the use of primates in the current review of the European directive that sets the rules for animal experimentation in Europe (86/609).
Over 80% of the 40,000 responses from European Citizens who responded to the EC's consultation on the revision of 86/609 said they did not consider the use of monkeys in experiments as acceptable.
Meanwhile, increased knowledge of the intelligence and capacity of non-human primates to experience profound suffering has caused many in scientific communities to question the ethics of using them in experiments.
In a report on animal research, The Nuffield Council on Bioethics concluded that the use of primates "poses difficult ethical problems because of an increased likelihood that primates experience pain and suffering in ways that are similar to humans".
Regulatory bodies have acknowledged such ethical concerns. The EU's expert committee on animal welfare has emphasised "the cognitive complexity of primates and their capacity to suffer in laboratories", and the UK government's animal research advisory committee says it is working on "... how to minimise and eventually eliminate primate use and suffering". However, no action has been taken to address these concerns.
Several countries including the UK have banned the use of great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, pygmy gorillas, and orang-utans) in experiments on ethical grounds. The UK government accepted at the time that the ban was necessary as "a matter of morality" and the "cognitive and behavioural characteristics and qualities of these animals are such that it is unethical to treat them as expendable for research".
It is hard for anybody who understands the nature of primates to work out logically why the use of other monkeys as research tools hasn't also been banned on exactly the same moral grounds. Many primates share with humans the ability to remember past events, to have desires, to anticipate and plan for future events, to communicate, form concepts and have complex emotional and social experiences. These attributes are morally significant because they show that non-human primates are harmed not only by physical pain, but also by mental and emotional distress - such as is caused by a barren environment, frustration, restraint or social isolation and the presence, or anticipation, of something fearful or painful.
Sadly, as the BUAV's latest investigation shows, the use of primates in laboratories across Europe is rapidly escalating against the tide of public and professional ethical concern. The most recent European Union statistics revealed a 14% increase in the number of primates used. The UK is the second highest user of primates after France, with the number used here, far from being reduced, hovering at more than 3,000.
In common with the majority of UK citizens, the BUAV wants to live in a world where nobody wants or believes we need to experiment on animals. As a first step we should be addressing the morally unacceptable condemnation of non-human primates to lives of pain, fear and suffering in our laboratories and factory farms like Camarles.
We of course want to see the Camarles compound closed down and the animals left in the wild where they belong. However, we don't want to see this trade simply displaced. We have a unique and historic opportunity under the review of the European Directive 86/609 to get a long overdue ban on the use of primates in painful experiments in Europe. I am calling on our politicians to listen to their consciences and the overwhelming voice of EU citizens and put an end to the suffering once and for all.
Bron: The Guardian
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