A Harvard University neurobiology lab is under fire for conducting brain and vision experiments on baby monkeys, the latest in a string of efforts by animal welfare groups to shut down tests they view as cruel that have been funded by the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals urged Harvard Medical School officials this week to end monkey tests at the school’s Livingstone Lab.
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“I’m deeply concerned that the harm caused to the animals far outweighs any potential benefits to human or animal health — and I ask that approval to carry out these experiments be revoked,” wrote PETA neuroscientist Dr. Katherine Roe in a letter shared with Secrets.
She cited experiments that take baby macaques from their mothers and, for a year, prevent the animals from seeing human or other faces by sewing their eyes closed or having humans wear welding masks.
“The experiments in question, conducted by investigator Margaret Livingstone, involve removing infant monkeys from their mothers at birth and subjecting them to various sensory deprivation procedures, including binocular deprivation and monocular deprivation,” said the letter.
“In some experiments, newborn monkeys’ eyes are sutured closed for their entire first year of life. In other experiments, monkeys are denied the opportunity to view the faces of conspecifics or even the laboratory workers feeding them. In fact, these laboratory workers were required to wear welding masks during their limited interactions with the baby monkeys,” it added.
After this story posted, Harvard sent a statement. In it, the school condemned “personal attacks directed at scientists who conduct critically important research for the benefit of humanity” and said that it is transparent in its work.
On her webpage and that of the center, Livingstone detailed some of their work in line with how PETA described it.
Livingstone’s page said of her research, “We have generated novel, completely unnatural domains in monkeys by training them to choose between pairs of symbols to receive different reward amounts. Conversely we prevented the development of face domains by raising monkeys while we wore welders masks so the monkeys never saw faces. This double dissociation tells us that experience is critical for the development of specialized domains.”
The Livingstone Lab page said of the research, “We found that intensive early experience learning human symbols in young macaques can cause the development in monkeys of novel, entirely unnatural, domains, selectively responsive to human symbols. Conversely, monkeys raised without seeing faces do not develop face domains, which are present in normally raised humans and macaques. This double dissociation means that early experience is critical for the development of specialized domains.”
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PETA’s Roe said the tests traumatize the animals. “It’s well established that infant monkeys deprived of their mothers, whether they are raised by surrogates, by lab staff, or in peer groups, experience both immediate and long-term effects from this deprivation.”
PETA also raised questions about the impact of the research, claiming it had not produced any human benefit. It provided other details on a webpage about the Harvard research.
The targeting of the lab is the latest of several by animal welfare groups to end live testing. The group White Coat Waste, for example, helped to end testing on beagles and what it has dubbed Dr. Anthony Fauci’s “Monkey Island.”
