Primate Experimentation in Australia

Primates are used in a variety of research experiments in institutions around Australia – including macaques and marmosets in brain and vision studies and baboons in xenotransplantation research. You can find a list of HRA “case studies” involving primates here. Listen to the HRA podcast on primate research in Australia here. 

“As an expert on the welfare and well-being of non-human primates, I believe that using these individuals in research is inherently immoral. Social structure and the opportunity for normal interactions with not only conspecifics (members of their species) in general, but their family members in particular, are crucial for the physical and psychological well-being of non-human primates. The privation of captivity is compounded by the kinds of experiments imposed on these individuals, which often cause intense pain and suffering which cannot be alleviated until the individual is killed. Although they are similar to human beings in some ways, non-human primates are sufficiently different to make them poor surrogates. Only studies on people can provide us with unquestionably useful information about human structure, function and pathological conditions which will be invaluable in understanding and treating human disorders. We are an intelligent and capable species. If we use our intelligence compassionately, we can find ways to answer the questions we have without harming and killing non-human primates.”

Suitability as models for human disease

Chimpanzees are the species most closely related to humans. The chimpanzee genome (complete genetic material) is 98.77 percent identical to that of humans, therefore, researchers argue that chimpanzees will be the species most likely to replicate human outcomes in scientific (biomedical and toxicity) testing. However this small genetic variation between human and chimpanzees accounts for very significant differences in the way diseases affect the two species.[12] Chimpanzees are not currently used in Australian research, and those primates that are used have even wider genetic variation to humans, meaning that the differences in results would be greater again.

Universally accepted in scientific experiments involving human and non-human animal subjects, is the principle that the benefits must exceed the costs. Between 1995 and 2004, 749 papers on biomedical testing on chimpanzees were published worldwide. Ninety-five of these were randomly selected and not even half were cited in subsequent papers. Of those that were cited, only 14.7 percent were mentioned in the abstracts indicating relevance to tackling human diseases.

The degree to which a journal is circulated within the scientific community affects citation rates, therefore, citation rates are not an entirely objective measure of the importance of that research.[13] However, if chimpanzee studies are published in lower impact journals, then the logical reflection is that they are not important in the studies themselves. This calls into question the value of chimpanzee experiments, the majority of which make little noticeable contribution to biomedical advancement. Of the original sample, no chimpanzee study made an essential contribution to papers which had well developed methods for combating human diseases. Brown stated, “It is always problematic to what extent such models reflect the human situation.”[14]

Despite chimpanzees being the most genetically similar animals to humans, experiments on them have not provided substantial contributions to biomedical research. Therefore, it is logical for us to question, that if the most genetically similar animal to humans is an ineffective model, then how can the use of more genetically distant animals assist us? Such concerns – both scientific and ethical – are being recognised around the world where their use in research is being phased out.

Statistics 2006-2017:

The following table shows the number of primates used in Australian research between 2006 and 2017 (the latest available). Not all states have provided annual returns showing the numbers of animals used in research, so the figures below could be considered to be conservative. The figures also do not include owl monkeys held by the Australian Defence Force (per below)

NB: ACT figures are from ANU and CSIRO only. n/a = Statistics were not made available by the State or Territory Government.

Breeding Facilities

There are three NHMRC-funded non-human primate breeding facilities in Australia.

Despite this however, between 2000-2015, Australia imported:

• 331 pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable to extinction (from Indonesia)
• 250 crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) listed on the IUCN Red List from Indonesia
• 46 owl monkeys (Aotus lemurinus grisembra) listed on the IUCN Red List from the US.[15] (71 are currently held at the Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Diseases Institute and used for malaria research – personal email 4/4/18.) These animals are not included in the above statistics.
• 59 marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) from France
• 10 crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) from France.

(Numbers sourced from the CITES Trade Database, accessed July 2018)

The NHMRC supports the use of national breeding colonies (NBCs) for macaques, marmosets and baboons. In addition to the provision of research grants, the NHMRC makes annual contributions of $500,000 to the National Non-Human Primate Breeding and Research Facility and $195,000 to the National Baboon Colony.[16]

Over the period 2014-2017, the NHMRC awarded 26 grants to applicants who indicated they would involve non-human primates in their research:[17]