Should primates be used for medical research?
It's a burning question for the scientific community, and now the country's most prestigious science institute, the Royal Society, says it will investigate just how necessary it is for scientists to experiment on monkeys.
Animal rights campaigners want a ban on experiments on all primates.
Campaigners point to the fact that vivisection on chimpanzees has already been banned because they are deemed too similar to humans.
But some scientists argue that primates are essential for researchers.
They say medical advances such as eliminating polio, and improving the treatment of HIV Aids, are mainly due to experiments with monkeys.
It's a growing practice, with 20 per cent rise in the use of primates in laboratory tests in 2003.
Proponents of experimentation in primates are quick to point to the number of medical developments through the use of them in tests but what are they?
Sir David Weatherall, of The Royal Society, told Channel 4 News: “There have been a number of significant breakthroughs, particularly in the areas of nasty diseased of the brain and nervous system.
“For example new approaches in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and a better understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease have undoubtedly followed the use of this type of research.
“But at the same time we’re taking the approach that with all this new technology, can we identify areas where, because we can do so many things with cells and small animals now that we may be able to reduce the necessity for primates for research. And we think this is an equally important part of the study.”
Th study comes at a time when the animal rights movement is becoming more and more effective at sabotaging the medical research industry.
Channel 4 news was given footage from the Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (pictured) as well as pictures filmed on our behalf due to the anxiety among researchers about reprisals by animal rights extremists.
Around 3,000 primates -- mainly macaque and marmoset monkeys -- are used in experiments in Britain each year.
That compares with a total for all animals of around 2.6 million, of which the vast majority are mice and rats.
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