LONDON: In this country, experimentation on apes is banned. But it is still legal to use chimpanzees in medical research in other countries, and we in the UK cannot take the moral high ground -- British scientists wishing to work with these apes have often used those in the colony established by the EU for HIV/Aids research in the Netherlands (although this lab is now closed).
Chimpanzees are biologically more like us than any other living creature. It is the striking similarities in the DNA (which differs from ours by only about 1 per cent), in composition of blood and anatomy of brain and nervous system that led to hopes that they would help to unlock the secrets of HIV-Aids. However, despite the close similarities, and while the retrovirus stayed alive in the chimpanzees' blood, they did not develop the symptoms of full-blown Aids.
In the United States, many of the chimpanzee colonies once used for medical testing have now been closed down and the apes retired to sanctuaries. Nevertheless, the National Institutes of Health still have jurisdiction over more than 1,000 chimpanzees, which they are "stockpiling" in case of future medical needs.
At the start of my involvement with these issues, the Jane Goodall Institute and HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) brought together, for the first time, scientists, field researchers, animal welfare advocates, veterinarians and other interested parties. Our discussions centred on mandating an increase in cage size: the legal minimum was 5in x 5in x 7in (high). An NIH official was overhead saying, about me, "If she gets her way with chimps, it's the thin end of the wedge. It'll be monkeys next".
Yes, indeed. The chimpanzees have forced us to admit that we are not the only beings with personality, mind and a capacity for suffering. There is, after all, no sharp line dividing us from them. Neither can we draw a line between the chimpanzees and other sentient creatures. Yet, even in conservation, we find these unfortunate divisions. There are many groups of people dedicated to conserving the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) while gibbons, the so-called lesser apes, are excluded. Yet they are highly complex, and certainly capable of suffering. —Dawn/Guardian News Service
