Stop Testing on Monkeys

UC Davis MonkeysI ask that the Regents immediately take action to stop the unethical and scientifically unnecessary use of nonhuman primates in experiments at University of California campuses and laboratories.

Animal experimentation fails to hold the promise of new technologies, including nanotechnology, microfluidic methods, stem cell research and personalized medicine; or to yield the comprehensive results of well-established research protocols such as clinical and epidemiological studies.  Ethically, animal research is indefensible. Animals feel pain, fear, loneliness, and want to live their lives free from suffering—and in the case of nonhuman primates the evidence of these similarities is irrefutable.

We are asking the University of California to keep up with scientific progress. The European Union has banned cosmetic testing on animals, the Italian parliament passed a resolution banning most experiments on nonhuman primates, Harvard Medical School announced they will be closing their Primate Research Center and the U.S. government is stopping experimentation on almost all chimpanzees. The misuse of nonhuman primates is being recognized internationally—every taxpayer and donor dollar spent on animal experimentation ensures that we will remain stuck using the scientific methods of the early to mid 20th century.

By continuing to research on monkeys and apes, the University of California is no longer at the forefront of scientific progress. I ask the Regents of the University of California to evaluate the Universities’ guidelines for animal research and to immediately halt all experiments on nonhuman primates.


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