WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3071/98 by Michael ELLIOTT Primates (SUPPLEMENTARY ANSWER)
Date: 1998-10-09
Institutions: ELLIOTT, European Parliament
Subjects: AIDS, EU aid, EU financing, animal experimentation, infectious disease, monkey, project evaluation, research method, research programme

21.12.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 370/7

(1999/C 370/008)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3069/98

by David Bowe (PSE) to the Commission

(9 October 1998)

Subject: Primates

What
is the Commission’s policy and practice regarding EU finances being used to fund primate
experiments, and what are the total amounts of EU funding expended on primate experiments for each
of the following years: 1996, 1997, 1998 (to date); and how many primates does this represent?

(1999/C 370/009)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3071/98

by Michael Elliott (PSE) to the Commission

(9 October 1998)

Subject: Primates

What statistics/information does the European Commission keep on the numbers of primates used in EU-
funded research projects, the purpose of their use and the amount of EU funding involved; and what are
the Commission’s detailed plans for monitoring and recording EU-funded research in this sensitive area in
the future?

If such statistics and information have been kept:

/ What is the amount of EU funding awarded to research into BS/TSE using primates for each of the
years, 1996, 1997, 1998 (to date) and how many primates does this represent for each of these years?

/ What is the amount of EU funding awarded to research into AIDS using primates for each of the
years, 1996, 1997, 1998 (to date) and how many primates does this represent for each of these years?

Supplementary joint answer
to Written Questions E-3069/98 and E-3071/98
given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(27 May 1999)

Further to its answer of 16 November 1998 (1), the Commission is now able to provide the following
additional information.

There is no statistical information kept by the Commission on the number of primates used in Community
funded research projects and the amount of funding involved.

Nevertheless after inquiry with the coordinators of the projects the following information could be
gathered:

1.

Funding allocated to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) research involving primates
amounts to ECU 223 400 in 1997 and ECU 504 300 in 1998. 200 macaques and 6 to 12
chimpanzees were used in Community funded AIDS research contracts (signed between 1994 and
1998) under the 4th framework programme (2).

2. The bovine spongiform encephalopathy/transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (BSE/TSE) research
projects will only start in the year 1999. 78 macaques and 16 rhesus monkeys, but no chimpanzees,
are expected to be involved in these projects.

All these projects have been subject to scientific evaluation by multidisciplinary experts, who also consider
the justification for using animal experimentation, and particularly with primates. For strictly defined
research on AIDS and BSE, well-reasoned primate experimentation remains the only way to ensure the
production of knowledge of any value to develop diagnosis, treatment or vaccination that has applicability
to human beings.