Stop plans to use Japanese zoo monkeys for lab research
August 2003
Dear IPPL Alert List member:
Recently I received a troubling letter from our friends at the Japan
Anti-Vivisection Association (JAVA). They are asking us for international
help in opposing a plan to raid Japanese zoos for hundreds of "excess"
monkeys and to use these animals as breeding stock for laboratory
experiments. Approximately 1,500 to 2,400 monkeys may be seized, and, once
the breeding facility is established, 300 monkeys per year may be targeted
for laboratory experimentation.
The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has begun promoting this project as part of a large-scale national program called the "National Bio-resources Project." This is a 4.4 billion yen (approximately U.S.$36,700,000) project that claims it will become "the global gold standard of service for providing living resources." The project goals include creating a stable supply of animals for experimental purposes, including mice, rats, and monkeys.
The Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University has taken the lead in
pursuing this project by beginning negotiations for animals with several
zoos. As long ago as 1986, IPPL’s newsletter carried an article detailing
the cruel treatment of macaque monkeys in seemingly pointless neuroscience
experiments by the Primate Research Institute. We reported on how monkeys
were confined to restraint chairs continuously for more than a year at a
time, were routinely water-deprived, and were finally killed by cutting
their throats, apparently without anesthetic.
Zoos in Japan are generally regarded as educational facilities where
children can be encouraged to love and care for animals. However, the focus
of the National Bio-resources Project directly contradicts the mission of
Japan’s zoos. How will Japanese children feel when they discover that
yesterday’s playful zoo monkeys will have become tomorrow’s laboratory
subjects? JAVA is appalled that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology is responsible for promoting this kind of endeavor.
Already, protests have halted plans to donate monkeys from the Hakodate
Municipal Tropic Botanical Garden and from a zoo in Matsumoto City for
animal experimentation. However, the Primate Research Institute is
continuing in its efforts to acquire monkeys from other facilities. In order
to put an end to these plans, JAVA has started collecting petition
signatures in Japan.
According to JAVA, the Japanese government is very responsive to pressure
from overseas. Please join this campaign and send strong letters of protest
to the Japanese government. Here is a sample letter you may wish to use:
* * * Sample letter * * *
Dear Minister Tooyama:
I am writing to you in protest over the proposed plan to procure monkeys
from Japanese zoos for laboratory research, as part of the "National
Bio-resources Project."
Monkeys are highly intelligent animals and maintain intricate social
structures. They have complex emotional lives, caring for one another and
showing love to their babies as we humans do to our children. Ethically,
using monkeys in experiments that inflict mental and physical pain is
unacceptable and unconscionable.
Research illustrates that primate experimentation is no longer the “gold
standard” for study design. Past experience has demonstrated that
animal-modeled biomedical research yields results that cannot be safely
applied to humans. In addition, there are now many alternative research
methods (methods not using living animals) that are capable of providing
clinically relevant data.
Japan will never become a leader in biomedical research by maintaining
outdated, unreliable, and unethical methods for conducting studies. We are
now living in an era when ethics as well as state-of-the-art study design
are important considerations when doing research. England now maintains a
complete ban on great ape experimentation. Recently, large-scale public and
professional protests in France halted plans for a breeding facility for
experimental animals. Global trends indicate a strong movement towards the
abolition of experiments on primates.
I strongly request that the Japanese government to demonstrate its
commitment to enlightened and ethical research practices by halting the
"National Bio-resources Project."
Sincerely,
* * * * *
Please send letters of protest by the end of September. Please send them to:
Ms. Atsuko Tooyama
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
3-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, 100-8959
JAPAN
Mail to:voice@mext.go.jp
JAVA would appreciate a copy of your letter for their records, as they plan to release an article about this project together with your protest letters to the media. For more information, contact:
Yuichi Hasegawa, Executive Director of JAVA
JAVA (Japan Anti-Vivisection Association)
4-9-18-411 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023
JAPAN
Phone: 81 (3) 5419-8106 Fax: 81 (3) 5419-8107
Mail to: java@blue.ocn.ne.jp
http://www.java-animal.org/
Regards,
Dr. Shirley McGreal
IPPL Chairwoman
