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05-02-2009, 12:27 AM
A DOCUMENTARY revealing the distress that lab primates' face at Huntingdon Life Sciences has been released.
Save The Primates was made by Animal Defenders International (ADI) and has footage from one of Europe's largest testing facilities in Cambridgeshire.
The video shot at Huntingdon Life Sciences is said to show struggling monkeys strapped into chairs and forced to inhale products.
Many are housed in one cubic metre cages and then taken out to be held down by workers as tubes are forced down their throats, it has been claimed.
During the one-year ADI undercover investigation, 217 monkeys were killed in just five studies.
MEPs will be first to see the video, which will be introduced by MEP Jens Holm together with ADI.
The screening coincides with consideration in the European Parliament of new rules for the use of animals in experiments - the revision of Directive 86/609.
This is seen as the start of the largest drive in the EU to end the use of primates in experiments.
ADI Chief Executive Jan Creamer said: "There is a unique opportunity in Europe to finally begin phasing out experiments on primates.
"Nobody looking at the undercover footage of monkeys at this leading UK laboratory could fail to be moved by the stress and suffering these animals are forced to endure.
"Yet there are alternatives to using monkeys in these tests. Now that the truth of everyday suffering has been revealed, we must seize the opportunity to put an end to it."
HLS insists the Government requires products be tested on animals to ensure they are safe for humans, but said it strives to adhere to the "leading standards of animal care and welfare" and keeps testing on primates to a minimum.
Its website states: "Scientists have strong ethical, economic and legal obligations to use animals in research only when absolutely necessary.
"A lot of effort goes into trying to reduce the numbers of animals used, and trying to develop new methods to replace animals."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=387739
Save The Primates was made by Animal Defenders International (ADI) and has footage from one of Europe's largest testing facilities in Cambridgeshire.
The video shot at Huntingdon Life Sciences is said to show struggling monkeys strapped into chairs and forced to inhale products.
Many are housed in one cubic metre cages and then taken out to be held down by workers as tubes are forced down their throats, it has been claimed.
During the one-year ADI undercover investigation, 217 monkeys were killed in just five studies.
MEPs will be first to see the video, which will be introduced by MEP Jens Holm together with ADI.
The screening coincides with consideration in the European Parliament of new rules for the use of animals in experiments - the revision of Directive 86/609.
This is seen as the start of the largest drive in the EU to end the use of primates in experiments.
ADI Chief Executive Jan Creamer said: "There is a unique opportunity in Europe to finally begin phasing out experiments on primates.
"Nobody looking at the undercover footage of monkeys at this leading UK laboratory could fail to be moved by the stress and suffering these animals are forced to endure.
"Yet there are alternatives to using monkeys in these tests. Now that the truth of everyday suffering has been revealed, we must seize the opportunity to put an end to it."
HLS insists the Government requires products be tested on animals to ensure they are safe for humans, but said it strives to adhere to the "leading standards of animal care and welfare" and keeps testing on primates to a minimum.
Its website states: "Scientists have strong ethical, economic and legal obligations to use animals in research only when absolutely necessary.
"A lot of effort goes into trying to reduce the numbers of animals used, and trying to develop new methods to replace animals."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=387739