A plan to build a massive monkey-breeding facility that could eventually house 30,000 long-tailed macaques in a small Georgia city has sparked a multipronged legal battle pitting residents against a company whose executives have faced scrutiny for their past handling of animals destined for medical research.The fate of the facility is in the hands of the Georgia Court of Appeals, which will consider Thursday whether to overturn the validation for a bond that the city of Bainbridge promised to Safer Human Medicine, a company started by animal research industry veterans. It received the bond after Bainbridge leaders greenlighted the project in December.But in the ensuing months residents, with help from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, began to push back against the project.“It feels like somebody’s going to drop a bomb in the middle of everything that we’ve worked and built,” said lifelong Bainbridge resident June Faircloth. “We can’t sit back and let it happen.” An artist’s rendering of a planned monkey enclosure in Bainbridge, Ga. (Safer Human Medicine)It’s not the first such project to have gotten local opposition — with support from PETA — at a time when researchers say they are running low on monkeys for medical testing. Long-tailed macaques are among the most common monkeys used in research in the U.S., and while monkeys are used in a fraction of a percent of animal studies, researchers say they’re critical.A monkey-breeding facility in Brazoria County, Texas, planned by the company Charles River Laboratories was put on hold this year after local opposition that was aided by PETA arose. PETA also pushed back after a Chinese-owned company bought land in Florida a couple of years ago for a possible primate facility — the plan was eventually scrapped.The battles highlight how animal rights activists, together with residents, have found some success in opposing new facilities despite the ongoing needs of scientists.Animal testing for research purposes has a long history — as does opposition to it. And while many scientists have advocated for more humane treatment of animals used in research, they have also warned that stopping such research would seriously hinder many medical advances. Animal testing is regulated in the U.S. by the Animal Welfare Act of 1966.Dr. Paul Johnson, the director of the Emory National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, said monkey research helped develop C …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA plan to build a massive monkey-breeding facility that could eventually house 30,000 long-tailed macaques in a small Georgia city has sparked a multipronged legal battle pitting residents against a company whose executives have faced scrutiny for their past handling of animals destined for medical research.The fate of the facility is in the hands of the Georgia Court of Appeals, which will consider Thursday whether to overturn the validation for a bond that the city of Bainbridge promised to Safer Human Medicine, a company started by animal research industry veterans. It received the bond after Bainbridge leaders greenlighted the project in December.But in the ensuing months residents, with help from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, began to push back against the project.“It feels like somebody’s going to drop a bomb in the middle of everything that we’ve worked and built,” said lifelong Bainbridge resident June Faircloth. “We can’t sit back and let it happen.” An artist’s rendering of a planned monkey enclosure in Bainbridge, Ga. (Safer Human Medicine)It’s not the first such project to have gotten local opposition — with support from PETA — at a time when researchers say they are running low on monkeys for medical testing. Long-tailed macaques are among the most common monkeys used in research in the U.S., and while monkeys are used in a fraction of a percent of animal studies, researchers say they’re critical.A monkey-breeding facility in Brazoria County, Texas, planned by the company Charles River Laboratories was put on hold this year after local opposition that was aided by PETA arose. PETA also pushed back after a Chinese-owned company bought land in Florida a couple of years ago for a possible primate facility — the plan was eventually scrapped.The battles highlight how animal rights activists, together with residents, have found some success in opposing new facilities despite the ongoing needs of scientists.Animal testing for research purposes has a long history — as does opposition to it. And while many scientists have advocated for more humane treatment of animals used in research, they have also warned that stopping such research would seriously hinder many medical advances. Animal testing is regulated in the U.S. by the Animal Welfare Act of 1966.Dr. Paul Johnson, the director of the Emory National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, said monkey research helped develop C …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
