And they have attracted the support of several well-known naturalists. It says many animals are housed in cages so small that they cannot stretch, with many showing signs of disturbed behaviour. Infants are said to be routinely separated from their mothers. The coalition says researchers from leading UK universities, hospitals and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are involved in experiments at the BPRC that would be illegal in the UK, which banned such research in 1997. Ceece says many of the centre's chimpanzees were bred for research on Aids, but are no longer wanted for it, as it says many scientists think they are of little use.
Chimpanzees resemble humans more than they resemble gorillas.
Even for those few scientists who believe that the use of apes and monkeys advances medical knowledge, the conditions in which the animals at the BPRC are kept are morally unacceptable. I think it's unethical to experiment on chimpanzees and other primates - and also on dogs and cats. But I don't know where you draw the line. We need to develop research on human tissue in test-tubes. That's the only scientifically valid and ethical way to go.