Corona Daily 172: Wanted: Monkeys

Monkeys are in short supply. We have heard of vaccine trials. Before testing vaccines on humans, they had to be tested on monkeys. Bioqual was one of the companies responsible for supplying monkeys to Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. The company lost their contract mid-way because it couldn’t supply enough monkeys.

Monkeys are ideal for vaccine trials, because they share nearly 90% DNA with us. Their biology is similar. They can be tested with nasal swabs, administered intravenous injections and their lungs can be scanned. While drugs such as dexamethasone were tested on hamsters, scientists say it is nearly impossible to test vaccines without monkeys. Millions of human lives depend on monkeys.

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With scientists around the world desirous of developing vaccines clamoring for monkeys, the demand shot up. The cost of a single monkey went from $10,000 to more than $20,000. The situation was aggravated because a year ago China announced a ban on export of wildlife.

Though Trump had started a trade war with China, for over a decade the American scientists had a close association with the Chinese monkey suppliers. In 2019, out of the 34,000 primates imported by USA, over 60% came from China. The type of monkeys exported by China are mostly cynomolgus macaques.

China may lift the ban once the pandemic is over. However, with the skyrocketing demand for lab animals, Chinese researchers have announced they face a shortage themselves. The government stockpile in China has 45000 monkeys, a number barely enough for domestic research.

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Not surprisingly, India and China have the highest population of monkeys. It is estimated India has over half a million. For 22 years, until 1978, India was the major supplier of monkeys for research. India supplied some 30000 Rhesus monkeys every year to the USA.

The world’s largest supplier of monkeys suddenly banned its export following disclosures in the Indian press that the USA was using some of the monkeys for testing military weapons. This was a violation of the international agreement signed by the two states.

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Animal right groups have been active and aggressive in opposing the use of monkeys for scientific research. Because most monkeys are hurt or die during the experiments. Some succumb to fatal diseases or injuries. Most are killed because their tissues must be examined in autopsies to determine results.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has succeeded in lobbying with the airlines. Major airlines now ban transport of research animals, including monkeys. Animals can be transported for other purposes, such as taking them to zoos or sanctuaries, but not for experiments. Scientists are unhappy about such discriminatory practice.

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The choice for the USA was to home-breed monkeys, although Chinese and Indian monkeys are much cheaper than American or European monkeys. The USA maintains seven primate research centers, where before research, the animals live in colonies. The facilities are affiliated to research universities and funded by the National Institutes of Health. Animal rights activists accuse the centers of abuse, including separating babies from their mothers.

In the last two decades, those centers always wanted to expand the monkey population. Unfortunately, their budgets kept contracting. The scientists, in fact, had to give the female monkeys birth control. Every year fewer babies were born.

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Scientists believe monkey research remains vital for developing vaccines, understanding the basic biology of the brain, neurological and communicable diseases, and certain aspects of fertility and ageing.

The instinctive reaction of most humans is to think of animal rights activists as fanatics. If monkeys are so useful in saving millions of human lives, why not facilitate their breeding and export for the benefit of science?

Ethically speaking, though, what right does the human race have to inflict pain on monkeys for experiments? Nazis had used the same argument when conducting medical experiments on Jews.

Ravi