The future of brain research in the United Kingdom is hanging in the balance, as Cambridge University launches a third appeal for permission to build a primate research facility on the outskirts of Cambridge (BBC News, 25 November 2002). Previous planning applications were rejected because local residents feared that, like the nearby Huntingdon Life Sciences, the centre would provide a target for animal rights protesters.

This time, the opposition to the scheme is being led by animal rights groups. Ray Greek, a former animal researcher who now disputes the validity of animal experiments, is representing the National Anti-Vivisection Society at the hearing. His view is that “chimp brains and human brains are similar in structure, but that doesn't mean they perform the same functions” (New Scientist, 23 November 2002).

However, a spokesperson for Cambridge University argues that “advances in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, asthma and strokes have all been made as a result of research in primates. Research with primates offers the hope of effective treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and sight disorders, as well as the development of vaccines for malaria and AIDS” (BBC News). John Strandberg, who is responsible for funding decisions on primate research at the National Institutes of Health, points out that “non-human primates are the only mammals that develop the senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are symptomatic of Alzheimer's Disease” (New Scientist).

The president of the British Neuroscience Society, Nancy Rothwell, believes that rejecting the plans will not prevent primate research from taking place, and that “it will be done somewhere else where animal welfare might not be so strictly enforced as it is here” (New Scientist).