http://www.theprovince.com/health/save+monkeys+from+grim+death/4122865/story.html
Bid to save UBC monkeys from grim death
By Ian Austin, The ProvinceJanuary 17, 2011
Anne Birthistle wants to save four rhesus monkeys from UBC’s death row.
Birthistle, a researcher for Stop UBC Animal Research, wants to “adopt the monkeys” by offering to buy the research monkeys before they are killed as part of Experiment LS91.
Documents obtained by The Province show that the four monkey are to be injected with substances to duplicate Parkinson’s disease in humans, then “sacrificed” for testing to show the effects.
Under the heading, “Proteasome inhibition, aging and Parkinson’s Disease,” the Triumf-Life Sciences Report’s proposed project calls for the four rhesus macaque monkeys to be injected, scanned, and eventually “sacrificed for neuropathology . . . Neuropathological analyses will be performed post-mortem.”
Not if Birthistle and her group have their way.
“Stop UBC Animal Research will launch an “adopt a monkey” campaign where we are prepared to pay for every monkey at UBC,” said Birthistle. “We want UBC to release them to us so that we can turn them over to a primate sanctuary where they can live out their days in peace and comfort.
“We don’t need to do research on animals,” said Birthistle. “We have computer modelling and technology, and human tissue samples.”
Birthistle said her group will pay “whatever it takes” to purchase the lab monkeys, so that they can be turned over to the Fauna Foundation and live out their lives.
John Hepburn, a chemical physicist who is UBC’s vice-president of research and international, didn’t dispute Birthistle’s version of the research.
“Roughly speaking, I think that’s correct,” Hepburn said of the characterization of injecting, scanning, and euthanizing the monkeys.
“I’m not sure that it has been funded. I don’t think it has been approved or funded.”
But Hepburn said the research proposal has to been taken into context – Parkinson’s disease is a fatal disease with no known cure.
“This is research into Parkinson’s disease, which is a serious disease that kills a lot of people,” said Hepburn. “Research of this type does require the use of animals.
“In order to do this research, the researchers would have to convince a group of international experts in Parkinson’s disease that this research is worthwhile.
“After that, they need to get approval from the UBC animal care committee that this research is being done humanely.”
twitter.com/ianaustin7