ATLA::Alternatives to Laboratory Animals

Volume 23, Number 5

Chimpanzee medical experiments: moral, legal and scientific concerns.

ATLA 23, 607-614, September/October 1995

Michael Balls

FRAME, Russell & Burch House, 96-98 North Sherwood Street, Nottingham NG1 4EE, UK

SUMMARY

FRAME's role in drawing attention to the special scientific and ethical concerns raised by the use of non-human primates as laboratory animals is reviewed, with special emphasis on the FRAME/CRAE proposals to the British Government (1987) and the RSPCA FRAME survey of research on non-human primates conducted in Great Britain between 1984 and 1988. Attention is then focused on the moral case and the scientific case against using chimpanzees as laboratory animals, with particular emphasis on research on AIDS. Finally, a call is made for universal agreement that no more laboratory experiments should ever be performed on chimpanzees.

Keywords: AIDS, chimpanzees, animal experiments, primates