PETA has sent letters to health and medical welfare bodies in India urging them to stop testing Covid-19 vaccines on monkeys.
Animal testing dates back to the Ancient Greeks. Aristotle and Erasistratus being one of the first people to perform experiments on animals. Today, animal testing mainly used for medical advancements and to treat human diseases. It also typically tested on live animals like mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats. And dogs first to deem a product or vaccine safe for humans.
However, many do not agree with the practice as animals have to suffer and die for human benefit. And many not kept in good condition.
The Indian branch of animal rights organization PETA is heavily against animal testing. So It has sent letters, co-signed by an expert primatologist. Urging the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research. And the National Institute of Virology (NIV) to prohibit testing Covid-19 vaccines on monkeys.
The testing is on the primates to develop Covid-19 vaccines, which the organizations say is “dangerous”.
In the letter, the organization laid out how the monkeys used likely infected with pathogens that can put the laboratory workers at risk. It is asking NIV to “develop safe and effective Covid-19 treatments and vaccines using modern. Animal-free methods instead of cruel and wasteful animal tests”.
There are animal-free methods for testing medicines and vaccines that used to tackle the coronavirus. So According to PETA, many researchers around the world are using human tissue models, human-derived antibodies, computer simulations, and even going straight to human trials. Animals being harmed the process at all. Also, the Indian company Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has been trialing a plant-based drug that could be a potential coronavirus vaccine.
