Nafovanny in Vietnam is the largest captive-breeding primate facility in the world. It supplies crab-eating Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to animal testing laboratories.
Nafovanny in Vietnam is the largest captive-breeding primate facility in the world. It supplies crab-eating Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to animal testing laboratories.
Nafovanny was set up in 1994 by Vanny Chian Technology, a Hong Kong company, according to Reuters. [2]
Criticism of the project was expressed by Dr. John Wedderburn, a former member of the RSPCA's ruling council: "It is terrible, terrible. There is no end to the ingenuity of man when it comes to making money and being cruel." Daniel Chen, a director of Vanny Chain Technology responded "We have not got a problem with that because what we are doing is very humane and it is for the welfare of human beings." [2]
Nafovanny consists of two main farms in Long Thanh, Vietnam. [3] According to the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), the facility also maintains satellite breeding farms on the Cambodian border, in which the BUAV alleges wild monkeys may also be held. The existence of these farms is not referenced in the company's brochure, according to the BUAV. [4]
The British Home Office has said it has no knowledge of Nafovanny satellite farms. However, it also said that "This decision was premised upon the contractual arrangements having been entered into in good-faith whilst Nafovanny was still considered to be an acceptable source, and animals already selected for onward supply to the UK. The view was taken that proper provision would be made for the welfare of these animals prior to their being shipped to the UK – and that this could be verified from the records and findings on arrival." [5]
The British government approved Nafovanny to export primates to British laboratories in 1999. [4] The British Animal Scientific Procedures Inspectorate visited Nafovanny in March 2005 and identified "shortcomings in animal accommodation and care", but since then, the government has "received assurances and evidence that significant improvements have been made". [6]
According to Viet Nam News, 3,000 Nafovanny macaques were exported to the U.S. for testing purposes in 2000. [7] The International Primate Protection League reported that Nafovanny exported 1,440 macaques to the United States in 2013. [8]
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals, such as model organisms, in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This approach can be contrasted with field studies in which animals are observed in their natural environments or habitats. Experimental research with animals is usually conducted in universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to the industry. The focus of animal testing varies on a continuum from pure research, focusing on developing fundamental knowledge of an organism, to applied research, which may focus on answering some questions of great practical importance, such as finding a cure for a disease. Examples of applied research include testing disease treatments, breeding, defense research, and toxicology, including cosmetics testing. In education, animal testing is sometimes a component of biology or psychology courses.
The crab-eating macaque, also known as the long-tailed macaque or cynomolgus macaque, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. As a synanthropic species, the crab-eating macaque thrives near human settlements and in secondary forest. Crab-eating macaques are plastic in the attributes and roles assigned to them by humans, ranging from cultural perceptions as being smart and adaptive, to being sacred animals, being regarded as vermin and pests, and becoming resources in modern biomedical research. They have been described as a species on the edge, living on the edge of forests, rivers, and seas, at the edge of human settlements, and perhaps on the edge of rapid extinction.
In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals or made from animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year.
Cruelty Free International is a British animal rights and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal testing. It organises certification of cruelty-free products which are marked with the symbol of a leaping bunny.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates. It has been the subject of several major leaks or undercover investigations by activists and reporters since 1989.
Fortrea Holdings Inc. is a contract research organization organized in Delaware and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina with operations in 90 countries. It customers are primarily in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.
Shamrock Farm was the United Kingdom's only non-human primate importation and quarantine centre, located in Small Dole, near Henfield in West Sussex. The centre, owned by Bausch and Lomb and run by Charles River Laboratories, Inc. for Shamrock (GB) Ltd, provided animals to various laboratories and universities for use in animal testing. It was Europe's largest supplier of primates to laboratories, and held up to 350 monkeys at a time.
Animal Liberation Leagues were a network of animal rights organizations active in the UK in the 1980s. Whereas the Animal Liberation Front specialized in clandestine activity, mainly masked, at night, and involving small numbers of people, the Animal Liberation Leagues consisted of coordinated raids, or 'invasions', by a large number of people, mainly carried out during the day. One journalist described the Animal Liberation Leagues as "a sophisticated...development in the move to direct action". Raids were often carried out at the same time as legal demonstrations.
Cambridge University primate experiments came to public attention in 2002 after the publication that year of material from a ten-month undercover investigation in 1998 by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV). The experiments were being conducted on marmosets, and included the removal of parts of their brains intended to simulate the symptoms of stroke or Parkinson's disease. Some of the research was theoretical, aimed at advancing knowledge of the brain, while some of it was applied.
Gillian Rose Langley is a British scientist and writer who specialises in alternatives to animal testing and animal rights. She was, from 1981 until 2009, the science director of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, a medical research charity developing non-animal research techniques. She was an anti-vivisection member of the British government's Animal Procedures Committee for eight years, and has worked as a consultant on non-animal techniques for the European Commission, and for animal protection organizations in Europe and the United States. Between 2010 and 2016 she was a consultant for Humane Society International.
The international trade in primates sees 32,000 wild non-human primates (NHPs) trapped and sold on the international market every year. They are sold mostly for use in animal testing, but also for food, for exhibition in zoos and circuses, and for private use as companion animals.
The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) is an international non-profit animal protection group, based in London, working to end animal testing, and focused on the replacement of animals in research with advanced, scientific techniques. Since 2006, the NAVS has operated its international campaigns under the working name Animal Defenders International (ADI), and the two groups now work together under the ADI name.
Experiments involving non-human primates (NHPs) include toxicity testing for medical and non-medical substances; studies of infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis; neurological studies; behavior and cognition; reproduction; genetics; and xenotransplantation. Around 65,000 NHPs are used every year in the United States, and around 7,000 across the European Union. Most are purpose-bred, while some are caught in the wild.
The Boyd Group is a Britain-based, independent think tank considering issues relating to animal testing.
The National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) is an animal welfare charity founded in 1971, which operates rescue and rehoming centres for companion animals. It has branches in Watford, Berkshire, Essex, Bedfordshire and Cornwall. They operate a number of premises, including Trindledown Farm, the UK's only retirement home for elderly pets. Formerly known as the Animal Welfare Trust (AWT), it originated from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.
Harlan Sprague Dawley Inc. was a supplier of animals and other services to laboratories for the purpose of animal testing. It provided pre-clinical research tools and services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrochemicals, industrial chemical, and food industries.
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The Anti-Vivisection Coalition (AVC) is a United Kingdom-based pressure group which campaigns against animal testing. The AVC are described as 'main driver' of the Stop Vivisection Initiative, a petition launched in November 2012 which attracted more than a million signatures. The Stop Vivisection Initiative called upon the European Union to ban animal testing. If the signatures are verified, "the initiative will be granted hearings at the European Commission and the European Parliament".
The Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) is a federally-funded biomedical research facility located on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington. The WaNPRC is one of seven National Primate Research Centers established by the National Institutes of Health in the 1960s The Washington primate center opened in 1961 and as of 2020, housed over 900 primates. The center is affiliated with the University of Washington Schools of Medicine, Public Health, affiliated research centers and the University of Washington Medical Center. It employs over 150 scientists and staff.
Vabiotech COVID-19 vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 (Vabiotech) in Vietnam.
