 Protest
planned at key meeting...
UNI OFFICIALS FACE 'DECEPTION' CHARGE OVER MONKEY CENTRE
The internal revolt over Cambridge University's plans
to build a massive primate research centre reaches a critical phase on Tuesday
when the university's governing Council is likely to be charged with using deception
to obtain approval for the project from the university's 'parliament'.
Anti-vivisection opponents of the scheme will be on hand when top officials
meet at Senate House to hear complaints from Cambridge's Scrutiny Committee
that the Council had tried to hide its proposed use of primates from the university's
governing body - known as Regent House.
The scale of the deception was starkly summarised in a headline for a recent
article in the Daily Express: 'Don's ape fury: Truth about £20m
monkey lab was 'kept from university body'.
The in-house controversy was first aired in an article in the university's
official journal. 'It is clear,' said the August 6 report, 'that
a decision was taken to keep a vital fact from the Regent House... Ethical
questions about experiments on primates aside, this fact was important because
it seriously affected the likely cost of the project... both legal costs
in obtaining planning permission... and labour costs ensuring the physical
security of the site.'
Protesters will be ready to remind university officials attending Tuesday's
meeting - which could include new Vice Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard
- that the deception practised by the Council on its own parliament is
but a foretaste of the immoral activities planned for the new centre.
Monkeys would have their skulls opened and their brains damaged with corrosive
chemicals and through surgery. They would then typically be set a battery of
tests in neurological experiments that could last months, and even years. Most
end with the animals being killed and their body parts analysed. But prior to
death, the animals would suffer symptoms that include seizures, vomiting, diarrhoea,
tremors and uncontrollable body movements.
A House of Commons motion calling for a government ban on all primate experiments
has attracted support from no less than 115 MPs within a few weeks of it being
tabled by Lib Dem MP Norman Baker. Early Day Motion No. 1307 objects to the
experiments because of the 'the important biological differences between
people and primates' and because the monkeys' 'suffering is
so severe'.
The general public is also opposed to monkey tests. Fifty-two per cent of respondents
to an Animal Aid-commissioned NOP poll said such experiments are morally unacceptable.
Only 40% said they are acceptable - the remainder fell into the 'don't
know' or 'refused' category.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is due shortly to announce whether he will
give planning permission for the centre. But even if the green light is given,
the university can choose not to go ahead.
In a statement sent to every member
of the university's Council, Animal Aid Director, Andrew Tyler,
declared:
"The track record of the 'primate model' in all fields of medical
research is dismal. The Council will not be adopting an anti-science posture
if it chooses to recommend that the University should cease all primate research.
On the contrary, by embracing the many non-animal methods of research now
available, it will be signalling its commitment to science that is rational,
modern and humane."
The Tuesday October 7 Regent House meeting demo will begin 2pm at Senate house,
central Cambridge.
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Notes to Editors
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