Monkeys in Bremen
(Novembert 5th 2008) For eleven years, the German neuroscientist, Andreas Kreiter, has been conducting primate research at the University of Bremen's Centre of Cognitive Science and all this time a quarrel has been raging about his work in the Hanseatic city. Bremen's State Senator for Health has now stopped Kreiter's “ethically unjustified” work.
Bremen's State Senator for Health refused to renew Kreiter's licence
for animal experiments, claiming that his tests are "ethically unjustified", since they address fundamental scientific questions instead of developing medical therapies.
Kreiter's research records the activity of single neurons in the brains of macaque monkeys while they carry out various behavioural tasks, such as recognizing patterns on a screen. By plotting the neuronal signal transmission, Kreiter intends to unnravel cognitive processes like perception, attention and memory in the mammalian brain. For his experiments, a metal device is implanted permanently in the skull of the animal through which measuring electrodes can be inserted. For the duration of the examination the monkeys are kept in a custom-built perspex box, with their heads fixed. If the monkeys perform their tasks by operating a joy stick correctly, they are rewarded with fruit juice.
For years, members of the German Animal Welfare Association have protested that Kreitner's experiments are cruel. One of the leading animal rights activists in this campaign, Wolfgang Apel, is president of the organisation and a resident of Bremen. In 1998, he and his club-members collected 40,000 signatures on a petition against Kreiter's monkey experiments that they presented to the Bremen state parliament, turning Kreiter's research into a political issue.
Parliamentarians across all parties subsequently argued against the monkey trials and the newly formed Social Democrat-Green coalition passed a declaration of intent last year not to extend Kreiter's licence after it expires at the end of November 2008. On October 15th, Kreiter was officially informed by the Senator of Health that his licence would not be renewed.
"I am concerned about this politically motivated decision", said Wilfried Müller, president of the University of Bremen, in a press conference. "I consider the ban on the excellent research of Andreas Kreiter as an illegal intervention in the freedom of science protected by fundamental rights." Other officials of the university support Kreiter as well and intend to appeal against the decision. "If necessary we will go to the Federal Constitutional court", emphazised Müller resentfully.
Last year the commission advising the Health Senator, made up of experts as well as of members of the animal welfare organisation, had recommended approving Kreiter's proposal. His work is supported by Germany's main funding organisation, the DFG, as well as by the German science ministry; it is rated as scientifically important and in full agreement with existing animal protection laws.
In addition to gaining fundamental insights into brain functions that may eventually help in the development of new therapies for degenerative brain and mental diseases, one of Kreiter's rejected projects specifically focuses on optimizing technical devices for the epilepsy therapy. "I cannot comprehend why this is not accounted for", remarked Reinhard Fischer, who is in charge of the primate experiments at the University of Bremen. The ban on Kreiter's work also compromises his plans for developing technology for neuroprosthetic devices.
Kreiter insists that his experiments are pain-free for the macaques since the brain has no pain perception. He says that the monkeys are specially bred for his studies and kept according to the regulations in conditions comparable to those found in a well-managed zoo. Kreiter's team continuously strives to optimize their applied methods, implementing the "3-R-rule" (Reduce, Refine, Replace) which aims at reducing the number of required animals, altering the experimental procedures to minimise harm to the animals and the seeking of alternatives to animal experiments.
Kreiter is not the only one performing this type of experiment. The method is commonly applied in neuroscience. At the German Primate Centre in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, similar approaches are employed. Less invasive methods cannot replace these tests. Also swapping macaques with other, less developed experimental animals is not an option for Kreiter. In order to finally compare neuronal processes of the experimental animals to humans, their underlying structure has to be suffciently homologous.
Melanie Estrella
