Dozens of researchers throughout Canada, together with famend environmentalist David Suzuki, have joined a rising refrain of voices urging the federal authorities to halt the importation of an endangered monkey species for medical analysis in Quebec.
A letter signed by 80 scientists, lecturers, medical doctors and college students says testing on long-tailed macaques from Cambodia must be banned attributable to moral issues and potential public-health dangers.
“A decade ago, chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, ceased to be used for experimentation because using such animal ‘models’ could no longer be justified from scientific, ethical, and/or financial perspectives,” says the letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his setting minister and the premier of Quebec.
The researchers say they’re additionally involved about “the serious risks of transmission of zoonotic pathogens” that might be related to transporting macaques.
Their letter urges the federal authorities to finish constitution flights which were bringing the macaques into Canada, and to undertake laws banning the importation of all primates for biomedical testing.
It’s the most recent group so as to add extra stress on Ottawa to droop the monkey imports by Charles River Laboratories, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical big that has a sprawling facility in Montreal.
The firm introduced in 2023 that it was halting macaque imports into the U.S., after it was subpoenaed in a case that concerned the indictment of two senior Cambodian officers over what authorities described as “multiple felonies for their role in bringing wild long-tailed macaques into the United States.”
No expenses have been introduced in opposition to Charles River Laboratories, or any of its officers, and the corporate has mentioned it would totally co-operate with the U.S. investigation.
At across the identical time, imports of monkeys from Cambodia into Canada dramatically surged, with Statistics Canada information exhibiting a 500 per cent enhance in 2023 from the 12 months earlier than.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, the federal division accountable for monitoring industrial commerce in wildlife, confirmed to The Canadian Press that Charles River Laboratories has imported 6,769 long-tailed macaques into the nation between January 2023 and August of this 12 months. The financial worth of those imported macaques is round $120 million, in accordance with Statistics Canada.
The division beforehand mentioned that officers rigorously and intently examine imports of international animals, together with these introduced in by Charles River Laboratories, and that each one macaque imports up to now this 12 months have complied with federal and worldwide wildlife laws.
The authorities and the corporate have each mentioned that no Canadian legal guidelines have been damaged.
Permit issued, flight departed from Cambodia
Last month, the Canadian Transportation Authority issued a allow for one more cargo on a cargo aircraft chartered by Charles River Laboratories.
A flight tracker exhibits {that a} aircraft with the identical flight quantity as what’s proven on the allow departed Phnom Penh, Cambodia final Thursday, and arrived in Montreal on Friday.
Jesse Greener, a professor of chemistry at Université Laval who signed the researchers’ letter to the federal government, mentioned medical know-how has developed to some extent that makes it unjustifiable for the pharmaceutical business to proceed utilizing stay primates for testing.
“The government should take a leadership role and help researchers and surely the private sector to pivot from using these unethical, and I would say old and outdated and unreliable animal models, and embrace these much more efficient and ethical approaches that are … exploding right now,” mentioned Greener, who has achieved analysis on strategies to interchange animals in such experiments.
“It is grotesque,” he mentioned of the animal use. “It is time that we change the page on this chapter of terrible research and commercial activities.”
Canada banned using animals for beauty testing final 12 months, however it’s nonetheless authorized to make use of stay primates for drug testing functions.
Government goals to scale back animals in drug testing
The federal authorities mentioned a draft technique geared toward lowering and changing using animals in drug testing was printed in September and open to public consultations for 60 days.
The technique, which will likely be revised primarily based on enter from researchers, specialists and others, is anticipated to be printed in June 2025, it mentioned.
“The government of Canada is committed to advancing efforts to replace, reduce, or refine the use of vertebrate animals in toxicity testing where possible,” Environment and Climate Change Canada mentioned in an announcement Tuesday.
Charles River Laboratories beforehand instructed The Canadian Press that whereas it’s also dedicated to lowering its use of stay primates, international regulatory our bodies require medication to be examined on animals earlier than they’re evaluated in people.
The firm mentioned using non-human primates has been very important in creating remedies for numerous illnesses and that the requirements it applies in its amenities are exceeding international norms.
Matthew Green, a New Democrat MP who had beforehand known as on the federal authorities to halt the most recent cargo of macaques, mentioned he has “great concern” about importing this unique animal.
“Generally in Canada, Canadians like to believe that our government has higher regulations and more stringent enforcement protocols when it comes to protecting endangered species, yet this is not the case in comparison to what the United States has done,” he mentioned.
Green and two of his NDP colleagues wrote a letter to a few federal ministers final month, demanding an “immediate attention” to the difficulty.
The Animal Alliance of Canada additionally despatched a letter to the setting minister in August, urging the speedy suspension of monkey importation from Cambodia.
