In an opinion essay in the Sun Sentinel on Dec. 26 (“International organization’s monkey business will slow medical research”), author Matthew Bailey, a paid lobbyist for the animal experimentation industry, sidesteps the concerning reality that the massive importation of monkeys into the U.S. annually is hastening their path to extinction.
The International Union of Conservation of Nature, a neutral authority, has elevated long-tailed macaques from “threatened” to “endangered,” identifying the experimentation industry as a major catalyst for their decline. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has instigated increased scrutiny of macaque exports from their natural habitats. The macaque trade is steeped in corruption, violence and disease, with monkeys captured in nature or bred on squalid farms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that imported monkeys had arrived infected with a novel strain of tuberculosis. Acknowledging this ethical, public health and environmental crisis is imperative for a comprehensive understanding of the consequences tied to the animal experimentation industry.
Lisa Jones-Engel, Ph.D., Seattle
The writer is Senior Science Advisor for Primate Experimentation, PETA.
Bid adieu to old thinking
As scientific thought incorporates new truths, it can be challenging for some to bid adieu to the ways of old.
In Matthew Bailey’s Dec. 26 opinion piece, he implores readers to adopt his harmful beliefs. He even mischaracterizes the National Academies report he cited, which concludes that nonanimal research approaches can reduce reliance on and may one day replace nonhuman primates.
In vitro technologies such as organoids and tissue chips can reliably mimic human biology and clinical responses. In vaccine research, these methods have important advantages, such as microenvironmental control, longitudinal monitoring and patient specificity. Species-specific susceptibilities and immune responses have burdened vaccine and immunotherapy development with low success rates. Instead of perpetuating reliance on this ineffective, unethical, unsustainable primate research paradigm, time and resources would be better spent on advancing human-specific approaches.
Catharine E. Krebs, Ph.D., Harpers Ferry, W. Va.
The writer is Medical Research Program Manager for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Defending DeSantis
Fred Grimm’s latest column (“The story of 2023 is our state leaders’ war on modernity”) continues to knock Gov. DeSantis and Republicans in general.
Grimm writes: “Back when more circumspect governors presided over Florida, drag queens, Mickey Mouse, transgender kids, college professors, undocumented immigrants and school librarians were not regarded as existential threats.”
I agree with him on this, but he forgot to mention that those subjects were never in our daily lives or vocabulary in the administrations of past governors.
There was never any discussion of Mickey Mouse (aka Disney World) because they never got into politics. No one had heard of being transgender, and illegal immigrants were not coming across the southern border by the millions. So thanks to DeSantis for pushing back.
Mark Goldstein, Boca Raton
A frightening trend
Hate is an extreme aversion toward someone or something. It is bigotry, anger and disgust in its lowest form. People who hate need to show control when expressing themselves and are at a constant quest to recruit people to join in their hate-filled field of contempt.
Hate and speech crimes that are all too common today against Jews, Muslims, linguistic minorities, religious and ethnic groups have become an extremely worrisome and frightening global trend. Worse, they are exacerbated by populist figures near and far.
But collectively, the American people are working even harder to get the job done to keep strength, wellness and peace alive forever. Hate is bad. Beware of your surroundings and of wolves in sheep’s clothing — they seem to be everywhere.
Roberta Chaleff, Tamarac
