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Outcry over monkey experiments

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Legislators and animal rights campaigners are urging the Government to tighten legislation covering animal experiments after some monkeys died during brain operations.

The operations, carried out by University of Hong Kong (HKU) surgeons on the mainland, were part of a $1 million project to find the cause of the spinal de formity scoliosis.

Last month, the South China Morning Post revealed that the surgeons planned to operate on 30 more six-month-old monkeys - which was branded inhumane by animal rights campaigners.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) fears it will 'open the floodgates' for local scientists to circumvent stricter animal testing regulations in the SAR.

Three of eight monkeys that underwent operations to have their pineal glands removed at Qingdao University died on the operating table.

A picture shown at the university's press conference showed the monkeys locked in small cages for observation after their operations.

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