Primates Infected With Coronavirus in Lab Tests
The US National Institutes of Health has infected eighteen primates with a form of coronavirus.
Eighteen rhesus macaques have been infected with a strain of coronavirus, as part of experiments conducted by the US National Institute of Health (NIH).
The animal tests come as scientists try to find a vaccine for the disease that has so far killed over two-thousand humans.
The study infected the primates with MERS-CoV, a strain of the current coronavirus. Two-thirds of the macaques were treated with an experimental antiviral treatment, which has shown “positive” results.
However, campaigners say that animal testing is “bad science”. The NIH admits that 95 percent of animal tests fail to translate to humans, and now modern alternatives to animal testing can produce more reliable, more precise and less expensive results. Progressive scientists are using a variety of new methods, including “advanced microchips that use real human cells and tissues to construct fully functioning postage stamp-size organs”.
Despite these technological advancements, the US government continues to spends more than $15 billion on animal testing, and each year, more than 25 million dogs, cats, monkeys, horses, guinea pigs, and other animals are used in experiments in the US.
Under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) - the law that governs the use of animals in laboratories - animals can be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged. For 95 percent of the animals used in laboratories, painkillers are not required, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.