From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2000--

Lab primates

The Swiss drug firm Novartis Pharma AG on Sept-ember 26 reportedly
merged with Biotransplant Inc. of Massachusetts, with which it has worked
for several years to breed pigs with human genes, and said it would close
Imutran, a British subsidiary which on September 21 was subject of a
London Daily Express expose of allegedly cruel conditions and falsified
data in pig-to-primate transplant experiments. The Daily Express expose
was based on documents leaked to the animal advocacy group Uncaged
Campaigns.

"Effective September 5, 2000, China Airlines will not accept live
primates destined for experimentation as cargo," the airline has informed
the Animal Protection Institute. Federal documents obtained by API under
the Freedom of Information Act indicate that China Airlines was the second
biggest transporter of nonhuman primates to U.S. labs, hauling 17
shipments including 2,161 longtailed macaques to four different
institutions. Air France, the largest carrier, hauled 27 shipments to
labs, including 3,274 longtailed macaques.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette on September 6 quietly
cancelled a $7.5 million experiment in which researcher Daniel Povinelli
proposed to have human parents raise eight chimps from birth to compare the
chimps' brain development with that of human babies. The project was much
criticized for needlessly replicating many previous studies.