Sir, Voices calling for a ban on medical research using primates (Body & Soul, October 25) must be resisted or British science and the ability to find treatments for a range of severe illnesses will be jeopardised.

In the past few weeks we have read how research with monkeys is progressing medicine. Paralysed people may be able to use their limbs again (report, October 16); young women made infertile by cancer treatment have the prospect of becoming mothers (report, October 17). Neurosurgeons can interpret patient scans obtained from the Nobel-prize winning MRI technology (report, October 7) because research in primates showed how brain activity relates to blood flow and metabolism changes.

Yet, at the same time, some MPs have signed a parliamentary motion to ban research with primates and pressure is mounting to stop a new laboratory being built at Cambridge.

Every day in British laboratories information is obtained from the humble yeast, worm and fly that helps us to discover and develop better medical treatments for humans. When research is undertaken in mammals, the insights gained are richer and provide the confidence to move from the non-animal methods that dominate biomedical research to clinical studies with volunteers and patients.

Without the small amount of animal research carried out with primates, less than 0.2 per cent of the total, it is very difficult to see how progress can be made against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, how new vaccines against malaria and Aids can be developed, or how certain new medicines can be considered suitable to test in people.

Quite rightly, all research using animals is tightly controlled in the UK. No one chooses, or is allowed, to undertake research with primates lightly. The research that is approved has brought and will continue to bring benefits to many patients, all round the world.

Sincerely,
COLIN BLAKEMORE
(Chief Executive, Medical Research Council),
TREVOR JONES
(Director General, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry),
BRIDGET OGILVIE
(Chairman, Association of Medical Research Charities),
NANCY ROTHWELL
(Chairman, Animal Science Group, Biosciences Federation),
MARK WALPORT
(Director, the Wellcome Trust),
c/o Coalition for Medical Progress,
Hamilton House,
Mabledon Place, WC1H 9BB.
October 25.

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