Government-appointed scientists have defended the use of monkeys for biomedical research as essential to developing life-saving treatments for humans and dismissed accusations of cruelty and incompetence in Australian facilities.
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Neuroscientist Associate Professor James Bourne told a Senate committee hearing that banning the importation of "non-human primates" - as proposed by a Greens bill currently before the Parliament - would undermine the work of researchers.
Last week, Fairfax Media revealed evidence of secretive experiments across Sydney and the apparent cover up of a kidney transplant from a pig to a baboon that had to be put down.
"Primates are critical to biomedical research targeting the cause, progression, prevention and treatment of a wide variety of diseases," Professor Bourne, a member of the research committee in the government's National Health & Medical Research Council, said on Friday.
"Primates share approximately 95 per cent of human genes and a number of physiological and anatomical similarities.
According to Professor Bourne, anyone claiming animals are meaningless for gaining insights into human bodies is either "badly informed or knowingly untruthful".
Humane Research Australia has disputed this, objecting to the "cruelty" inflicted on animals and citing research that found more than 90 per cent of drugs successfully tested on animals failed on humans.
Helen Marston, of Humane Research Australia, says on top of the "ethical dilemma" of experimenting with intelligent animals, the "use of primates has been found to be poorly predictive of human outcomes and their use has proven to be ineffective at providing substantial contributions to biomedical research".
Professor Bourne referenced primate testing as critical to the discovery of virus vaccines, HIV therapies and stem cell research as well as breakthroughs in treating strokes and Parkinson's disease.
He said animal testing, including on primates, is an "indispensable and currently irreplaceable bridge between basic laboratory science and the clinic".
Professor Anne Kelso, CEO of NHMRC, said that breakthroughs in human medicine are also used to treat diseases in primates and other animals.
"The majority of products which can pass through animal testing will be also safe in humans", she said when asked about the very high failure rate of treatments in the testing process.
Products are failed when they don't work or are proven to be unsafe, which mostly occurs in the stages before primate testing, according to Professor Kelso.
Over the past 15 years, the Department of Environment has authorised the import of 370 captive-bred primates.
The department says that, pursuant to both international and domestic obligations, animals are captive-bred and have not been caught in the wild.
They are used for breeding purposes with three existing "colonies" in New South Wales and Victoria, which are available for research use at many other facilities.
Imports are needed to ensure that the colonies stay genetically diverse, essential for their wellbeing and the quality of the research.
The committee was told all importation and experimentation is heavily scrutinised by both research institutions and government.
When experimenting with animals, scientists are supposed to adhere to the "three Rs", a set of ethical principles that stipulate the replacement, reduction and refinement of methods wherever possible.
Professor Bourne said the welfare of animals is of "paramount concern" and doesn't believe there is a need to improve "world standard" Australian animal research facilities.
Professor Kelso said that both the research and general community seeks a "very difficult ethical balance of judgment between the important role that animals play" in treatment of humans and the "potential harm for animals, which must be minimised".
Animal rights advocates say researchers should instead be using non-animal methodologies that are more relevant to studying human diseases.
