Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
including unannounced inspections, is similar to that
specified in US government regulations. As in the USA,
passage of the act initially met with a lot of resistance on
the part of the scientific and research community. However,
as in the USA and elsewhere, it later became accepted and
undoubtedly resulted in improvements in how research
animals were cared for and used.
In Kenya, the Tigoni Primate Research Center was
established in 1958 by Cynthia Booth and Louis Leakey, the
world famous anthropologist (
Else, 1978
). In about 1980,
the center was moved to a 300-acre tract and modern
facilities in the Kajiado District near Nairobi. It was
renamed the Institute for Primate Research (IPR) at that
time. The IPR has received consistent support from the
government of Kenya and through the National Museums of
Kenya and its director, Richard Leakey (the son of Louis
Leakey). Subcontracts from several of the NPRCs of the
NIH and their close technical cooperation with the IRP
helped in its development. As the first director of the IPR,
veterinarian James Else was influential in its early growth
and development as a major nonhuman primate research
facility. IPR later grew to conduct both field research at
a number of sites in Kenya as well as laboratory-based
research programs (
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The USA was the first country to ratify the convention,
which came into force in 1975. The feature that caused
alarm for the research community was that CITES member
states chose to list all nonhuman primate species as either
Appendix I (endangered) or Appendix II (threatened)
species. The presumption was that if there were insufficient
information about the status of a species, it should be listed.
The provisions of CITES extended to even the most
commonly used species. Permits issued by the exporting
country thus became a minimal requirement for importing
any nonhuman primate species. These steps would not have
posed serious constraints in themselves if it had not been
for a rising consciousness about conservation in major
exporting countries.
1978 Indian Ban on Monkey Exports
The government of India had long been uneasy with the
export of its rhesus monkeys, in large part due to the
reverence that its large Hindu population had for monkeys.
In 1955, the Indian government reached agreement with the
USA that limited the use of exported monkeys only to
biomedical research and vaccine production, specifically
banned their use in “atomic blast and space research,” and
established a review and certification mechanism in the US
PHS to assure that the terms of the agreement were met.
India, in 1973, concerned with the continuing decline of its
rhesus monkey population, went further to place a quota of
30 000 on exports and reduced this number to 20 000 a year
later (
Mack and Eudey, 1984
).
In 1978, Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai banned
the export of nonhuman primates altogether. His decision
followed widespread reports in the Indian press and else-
where (
Pincus, 1977
) that the USA was using imported
Indian monkeys at the Armed Forces Radiobiology
Research Institute (AFRRI) in terminal studies of perfor-
mance following massive doses of lethal neutron radiation
intended to simulate the detonation of a neutron bomb. The
International Primate Protection League (IPPL) and its
chairperson, Shirley McGreal, made it clear that her orga-
nization had issued a press release immediately prior to the
story being reported in India that described the work being
done at AFRRI, and other possible violations by the USA of
the 1955 agreement, in considerable detail (
2010).
Laboratory research covered parasitology (schistosomiasis,
leishmaniasis), virology (SIV, HIV, rotavirus, and endoge-
nous retroviruses), reproductive biology (fertility regula-
tion, reproductive health), and nonhuman primate pathology
and medicine. In 1998 IPR had a staff of about 150 and
a captive animal population of about 500 animals encom-
passing eight different species, the largest groups of which
were
http://primateresearch.org/
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>
baboon
colonies
(Papio
anubis
and Papio
cynocephalus)(
http://primatelit.library.wisc.edu/
2010).
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>
Constraints
Regulation
Growing realization that the resources of the world are
finite and that steps had to be taken to assure the survival of
many plant and animal species led to the enactment of the
United States Endangered Species Conservation Act of
1969. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 extended the
previous legislation and established a threatened category
of wildlife. A permit system limited the importation of
listed species to scientific research, species propagation,
and survival purposes. A number of nonhuman primate
species were listed as endangered or threatened. However,
the act did not pose a significant problem for the importa-
tion of major species used in biomedical research with the
exception of the cotton-topped tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)
and gibbons (Hylobates spp.).
The supply of wild-caught nonhuman primates was
seriously affected by the Convention on International Trade
http://ippl.
<
org/newsletter/
2010). Desai announced the total ban on
all further monkey exports less than a month after the
stories appeared in the Indian press. US officials close to
the controversy claimed the monkeys had been used in
valid biomedical research and not in actual atomic blast
studies (
Time Magazine, 1978; Wade, 1978
). The Director
General of the World Health Organization, concerned that
the loss of monkeys for testing vaccine would interrupt
polio immunization programs worldwide, later traveled to
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