- The Observer,
- Sunday November 23 2003
The government has shown courage in giving Cambridge University permission to go ahead with a monkey laboratory. Here, scientists will carry out research into brain disorders such as autism and Parkinson's disease, which robs people of control over their movements. New therapies are already allowing sufferers of Parkinson's a profoundly better way of life. The intention behind the new laboratory is to extend this work and find new ways to alleviate human suffering from mental illnesses.
The decision may well anger those animal-rights activists who have already tried to terrorise staff at Huntingdon Life Sciences' laboratory. None the less, while animal trials remain the only reliable method of assessing the safety of new treatments, the Government is right to give strong backing to such research.
