“Generation of transgenic non-human primates with germline transmission” released in Nature vol. 459, 28 May 2009.

At a time when the use of nonhuman primates in research is being ethically and scientifically challenged by scientists and others, the BUAV is extremely disappointed to learn of this latest development in creating transgenic marmosets. The technique used in this research not only inflicts great suffering, it is also wasteful and inefficient and will result in huge numbers of monkeys being used.

Regardless of how much the researchers try to force a nonhuman primate to have features of human beings, numerous, significant and inexorable species differences will ultimately negate the biomedical utility of any research done on them.

The researchers themselves note major caveats about their work, and over-speculate on the applications of their breakthrough to human disease research. They state that the use of genetically modified marmosets to study human diseases involving gene malfunctions could be developed using a specific type of lentivirus, and caution that they have reservations about the reproducibility of experiments involving large numbers of monkeys; a key requirement for  reliable scientific research.

Public opinion in Europe does not support the use of primates in research. A recent YouGov opinion poll in 6 representative EU countries - the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic - showed massive majorities, in each country, against the use of primates, in any experiment causing suffering (1).

Instead of inflicting great suffering and distress on highly sentient species such as marmosets, the research industry should be investing its substantial intellect, ingenuity and resources into utilizing and developing further the myriad of human-specific, cutting edge and more humane techniques to fight human diseases.