As if it is not enough that Africa is being used as a dump for techno trash, toxic waste and nuclear waste, testing ground for GM foods,  we are now being used as a means of circumventing the legislative restrictions that the West has developed to protect it’s citizens and in this case it’s animals.  Animal Rights campaigners have made it increasingly difficult for animal experiments to take place in Europe and the US so they are escaping to Africa.

Scientists in developed countries who are facing stiff and violent opposition from animal rights movements are now turning to Kenya and other countries in Africa and Asia.   And this may just present thousands of US dollars to local scientists and institutions who are struggling to get research funding and other technical expertise.

But it is not just Animal Rights activists that are driving researchers out of the West. It is also is the lack of legislation, lack of opposition to animal testing and the lower cost in Africa, which encourages Western scientists to work there.

This has created interest in Kenya and other African countries as
possible options to help them complete their studies since animal
research has not received intense and violent opposition in Africa.
Kenya is therefore viewed as a soft landing spot for scientists from
these countries.

The cost of conducting experiments is 10 times cheaper in Africa despite the fact that as a result of this new market, the cost of one baboon in any study has almost doubled.

When they come to Kenya, they pay a highly trained scientist four or six times lower than what they would have spend on a scientist of similar qualifications back at home. This pricing makes the Kenyan primates and scientists more attractive than those in developed countries.

Experiments on animals falls into three categories:

Drugs research, directed toward a specific application such as the treatment of human and non-human disease;
pure research, conducted without practical application for the "advancement of knowledge", and
toxicology testing,
also known as safety testing usually for industrial and agricultural
chemicals, cosmetics, and household products such as air freshener.
Most toxicology testing is required by law.

The latter two have little relationship to healthcare.   

There
have been significant changes in the laws on animal experimentation in
the West largely as a result of vigorous campaigns by Animal Rights activists.  The necessity of using animals for medical, cosmetic and industrial research is debatable. Animal Rights groups insist that not only is it morally wrong but in many instances has no medical value and is commericially and academically driven.   In the US and in Europe experiments on animals are monitored and regulated but even so abuses  still take place and there is a big question mark on how much these experiments actually advance health care.

These debates have been going on for many years in the West and there are varying points of view.  However it seems rather dangerous for these experiments to be conducted in countries where there is very little if any debate let alone monitoring and regulation. 

Tags: Animal Experiments

Animal Rights