| Name |
Views and Comments | Date |
| Douglas Leith |
Professor Aziz has falsely taken credit for the Parkinsons breakthrough known as 'deep brain stimulation' and as usual Peter Singer has given his support for animal experimentation by accepting Prof. Aziz's claims as valid. In fact it was Dr Bernabid, who, entirely through human observation, brought about this breakthrough. As usual, animal experimenters are taking credit for what they have not done. People may wish to do a search for the words 'parkinsons bernabid aziz' for the truth about this breakthrough. The foundations for the claim of the necessity of the primate centre at oxford are as shaky as the claim that human medicine could ever be based on another species. |
3/18/2008 |
| Amy - USA |
Let's have a scientific debate versus blaming the animal rights folks for all the problems - ALF is only making the people who have something peaceful and meaningful to say look bad, and now it helps the animal researchers to discredit tactful criticisms of their monkey research much easier if you say the peaceful protester is 'animal rights'. it is such a loaded and divisive term.
I used to be a primate researcher in the US, and heard about the parkinsonian studies in neighboring labs - other employees and I used to say, 'at least we don't have to work with the parkinsonian- or simian-aids-monkeys' for a reason.
Giving monkeys parkinson's may be "painless" as Prof. Stein says, but it paralyzes them, look up one of his papers and look at the methods section and see the details. in the past, arguments for inducing the parkinsonian condition in a monkey (since you can't kill a human and look at their brain and tissues) may have been justified. but parkinson's in a monkey is not parkinson's in a human since monkeys do not get parkinson's (they must be overdosed with MPTP and so it is not the actual disease). These scientists should be focusing more on their human-based research (google Diffusion Tensor Imaging) as we now have the technology to look deep into a person's brain without having to kill so many monkeys- MPTP-induced parkison's is NOT Parkinson's. Sadly, the US, too, has received continued funding for the parkinsonian condition in monkeys and many terminal studies are the result, with another paper written, and no cure found.
Working with Parkison's in humans, you can pay them for their time, look at their brain via PET and MRI imaging, take their life history, and look at their genetics - I would think this data would be much easier to extrapolate onto treating the human population versus extrapolating monkey data - monkeys who have an induced parkisonian condition (which, by the way, the monkey will get better if the MTPT dosage is stopped)
Even though scientists have to write down why they need to still be using the monkeys in their protocols, do you think there is really any motivation for a person working with monkeys for several years to say, 'hey let's replace my "skill" by working with humans' - surely less grants would be involved that support his "skill", and may go to other, more useful human-based research. |
3/17/2008 |
| Tom |
This is a two-year old news story!? |
3/15/2008 |
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