Testing on monkeys - a necessary evil?
Right next to the highway near Rijswijk, inconspicuously and behind a large fence, lies the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC). It's the largest monkey test center of its kind in Europe, housing almost 1000 primates. In the outdoor enclosures, rhesus monkeys slide down old fire hoses, play with branches and hang from the chain-linked fences. Every monkey has a number tattooed on their chest, making it easier to identify them.
The BPRC is nicknamed ‘the Monkey Hell of Rijswijk’ by animal rights organisations. “Nonsensical framing,” says Merel Langelaar, the new director of the research facility. “Of course close-up photos of the animals look awful, but we can substantiate quite factually that this is not a monkey hell.”
“I think the monkeys are better off here than in a zoo,” says Annet Louwerse, the main animal caretaker of the center. “They are not stressed by visitors, get daily enrichment and we keep family groups together as much as possible.” The obvious difference with a zoo being that some of the monkeys at the BPRC are used for biomedical experiments and die as a result. In 2022, that 180 of the 944 animals, or 19 percent, were killed.
Public and political support for animal testing in general and BPRC in particular continues to decline. Langelaar: “People think that animal testing really isn't necessary anymore. That we can already do enough research with computer models, AI, organoids (a miniature organ artificially grown with stem cells). But the kind of research we do here, especially in the field of infectious diseases, is about systems biology. There is simply no alternative for that yet. It is a necessary evil.”
A parliamentary debate on animal testing is planned for the 12th of December, in which the future of BPRC will also be discussed. According to figures from the NVWA, the number of animals used for animal testing in 2022 was 492,380; 180 of those were primates from the BPRC. In the same year, 538 million animals were slaughtered for meat production. Isn't it a kind of selective outrage about what happens in the monkey test center?
Langelaar: "People use double standards. If you ask them outside a supermarket whether they think animal welfare is important, they will say 'yes'. But once inside, they still buy that steak. Is there a moral hierarchy in the reason why we keep animals? Is it better or worse to keep animals for your own company, because you like the taste of them or because you do research on them?"
