NASA Laboratory Euthanized 27 Research Monkeys in One Day, Enraged Animal Rights Activists Want to Know Why
NASA laboratory has reportedly killed all the 27 of its research monkeys in one day. The primates at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California’s Silicon Valley were given lethal doses of drugs to euthanize them. The revelation has left animal rights activists enraged, and they want to know why.
Each year across the world, thousands of monkeys are used in research and testing. Much of this use is to develop and test the safety and effectiveness of potential human medicines and vaccines. While activists continue to campaign challenging the need and justification of using primates in researches, they are still being used in a lot of projects. A recent revelation just shook everyone. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) laboratory has reportedly killed all the 27 of its research monkeys in one day. The primates at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California’s Silicon Valley were given lethal doses of drugs to euthanize them. The revelation has left animal rights activists enraged, and they want to know why.
The monkeys were killed on February 2, 2019, The Guardian reported as of the documents it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The report notes that the monkeys were ageing, and 21 had Parkinson’s disease. The primates were housed by a tenant leasing a facility named LifeSource BioMedical—a separate drug research entity. After the revelation, NASA told The Independent that the monkeys were never a part of their research program. The LifeSource reported The Guardian that the company was given the critters “years ago,” because of their ages and poor health prevented them from being placed in a sanctuary. NASA Launches New $23 Million Space Toilet: From Being Women-Friendly to Efficiently Recycling Waste, Here’s How This Space Toilet Works.
US Representative, Kathleen Rice (D-NY) told The Guardian that she has been pushing for “humane treatment policies” for test animals in government labs. She called NASA chief Jim Bridenstine to investigate the mass euthanasia. Rice added several monkeys, “were simply experiencing the effects of old age and were being housed indefinitely in a laboratory setting despite not being used in any recent research protocol.” She further wrote, “If no efforts to pursue retirement to a sanctuary were considered, please explain why this is the case. I am concerned that a failure to even consider retiring these monkeys to a sanctuary on a case-by-case basis and instead of euthanizing the entire colony is a needless waste of animal life.”
The move has caused debates across. Animal rights activists have condemned the decision to not find them a home. Mike Ryan of Rise for Animals, a non-profit group that obtained the documents was quoted saying that the monkeys were treated like ‘tragic afterthoughts.’
In 1948, before NASA’s formation, a monkey was killed in the name of space exploration—Albert, a rhesus monkey. He died of suffocation during his journey, though US scientists maintained that it was so to learn about physiological effects of space travel.
Again, this is not the first time when the US space agency has faced severe criticism for using animals in research purposes. NASA used chimpanzees and other primates to test its Mercury space capsule and launched a 3-year-old chimp named Ham into space in 1961. Many monkeys continue to be used for experiments and researches.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 24, 2020 05:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).