Human Enough to Hurt
U.S. testing laboratories are running out of monkeys
In The Atlantic, Sarah Zhang reports that the country is “facing a monkey shortage.” The piece explains that labs racing to develop Covid-19 vaccines and treatments are “competing for a limited pool of monkeys,” due to the increased demand and the shutdown of exports from China. Before the pandemic, U.S. laboratories were already increasing their use of primates compared to other animals — in 2017, the country used 74,498 nonhuman primates for research, a record number — and now they want more.
Monkeys are integral to the vaccine process as we know it because they are typically used in the final stage of testing for human safety. That’s because nonhuman primates and human primates are so closely related that our immune systems and antibody reactions are likely to be nearly identical. It stands to reason, and is clearly apparent to anyone who has observed these animals, that our primate cousins are also equally capable of both suffering and yearning, and that they would prefer to be free to do what comes naturally in a place that feels natural.
Instead, we have consigned each of these beings to an artificial life devoid of joy or pleasure. At best, they will be caged indoors, constantly tested and prodded, and eventually killed — in some cases, for decades. Those are the…
