Monkey testing could lead to pandemic

OPINION:

“Activists are trying to slow down lifesaving medical research” (web, Sept. 4) — written by the head of an organization that spins and lobbies on behalf of animal testing and research labs and breeders — is alarmist and misleading.

Federal agencies are limiting imports of long-tailed macaque monkeys for good reason. Scientists and conservationists have repeatedly warned, through studies published in scientific journals, that wild populations of these monkeys are (1) declining and becoming endangered, (2) often captured in the wild and traded illegally and (3) a potential source of another pandemic.

Companies that profit from the capture and use of monkeys in labs have no legitimacy when it comes to conservation measures and animal protection. 

CRYSTAL MILLER-SPIEGEL

Senior policy analyst, American Anti-Vivisection Society

Jenkintown, Pennsylvania