close
close

‘Serious risks’: Researchers join fight against importing monkeys for drug testing

‘Serious risks’: Researchers join fight against importing monkeys for drug testing

Dozens of researchers from across Canada, including noted environmentalist David Suzuki, have joined a growing chorus of voices urging the federal government to halt the importation of an endangered monkey species for medical research in Quebec.

Dozens of researchers from across Canada, including noted environmentalist David Suzuki, have joined a growing chorus of voices urging the federal government to halt the importation of an endangered monkey species for medical research in Quebec.

A letter signed by 80 scientists, academics, doctors and students says testing on long-tailed macaques from Cambodia should be banned due to ethical concerns and potential risks to public health.

“Ten years ago, chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, were no longer used for experiments because the use of such animal models could no longer be justified from scientific, ethical and/or financial perspectives,” the letter to Prime Minister Justin says. Trudeau, his Environment Minister and Prime Minister of Quebec.

The researchers say they are also concerned about “the serious risks of transmission of zoonotic pathogens” that could be associated with the transport of macaques.

Their letter urges the federal government to end the charter flights that have brought the macaques to Canada and adopt regulations banning the importation of all primates for biomedical testing.

It’s the latest group to put more pressure on Ottawa to suspend imports of monkeys by Charles River Laboratories, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant with a sprawling factory in Montreal.

The company announced in 2023 that it would halt imports of macaques into the U.S. after it was subpoenaed in a case in which two senior Cambodian officials were charged with what authorities described as “multiple crimes for their role in bringing in wild long-tailed macaques in the US. the United States.”

No charges have been filed against Charles River Laboratories, or any of its officials, and the company has said it will cooperate fully with the U.S. investigation.

Around the same time, monkey imports from Cambodia to Canada increased dramatically, with Statistics Canada data showing a 500 percent increase in 2023 from the previous year.

Environment and Climate Change Canada, the federal department responsible for overseeing commercial wildlife trade, confirmed to the Canadian Press that Charles River Laboratories imported 6,769 long-tailed macaques into the country between January 2023 and August of this year. The monetary value of these imported macaques is approximately $120 million dollars, according to Statistics Canada.

The department previously said that officials rigorously and carefully inspect imports of foreign animals, including those brought in by Charles River Laboratories, and that all macaque imports so far this year have complied with federal and international regulations on wild animals.

The government and the company have both said no Canadian laws were broken.

Last month, the Canadian Transportation Authority issued a permit for a new shipment on a cargo plane chartered by Charles River Laboratories. A flight tracker shows that a plane with the same flight number as stated on the permit left Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last Thursday and arrived in Montreal on Friday.

Jesse Greener, a chemistry professor at Laval University who signed the researchers’ letter to the government, said medical technology has advanced to the point where it cannot be justified for the pharmaceutical industry to continue using live primates for testing.

“The government should take a leading role and help researchers and certainly the private sector to move away 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 …explode. right now,” says Greener, who has researched methods to replace animals in such experiments.

“It’s grotesque,” ​​he said of the use of animals. “It’s time we turn the page on this chapter of terrible research and commercial activity.”

Canada banned the use of animals for cosmetic testing last year, but it is still legal to use live primates for drug testing.

The federal government said a draft strategy aimed at reducing and replacing the use of animals in drug testing was published in September and is open to public consultations for 60 days.

The strategy, which will be revised based on input from researchers, experts and others, is expected to be published in June 2025, the report said.

“The Government of Canada is committed to advancing efforts to replace, reduce or refine the use of vertebrate animals in toxicity testing wherever possible,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a statement on Tuesday.

Charles River Laboratories previously told The Canadian Press that while it is also committed to reducing the use of live primates, global regulators require drugs to be tested on animals before being evaluated in humans.

The company said the use of non-human primates has been critical in developing treatments for various diseases and that the standards it applies in its facilities exceed global standards.

Matthew Green, a New Democratic MP who previously called on the federal government to halt the latest shipment of macaques, said he has “major concerns” about the importation of the exotic animal.

“Generally speaking, Canadians in Canada like to believe that our government has higher regulations and stricter enforcement protocols when it comes to protecting endangered species, but this is not the case compared to what the United States has done,” he said.

Green and two of his NDP colleagues wrote a letter to three federal ministers last month demanding “immediate attention” to the issue.

The Animal Alliance of Canada also sent a letter to the Environment Minister in August urging an immediate halt to the import of monkeys from Cambodia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press