Jane Goodall, Peter Gabriel, join fight to stop Air France carrying lab monkeys
Jane Goodall and Peter Gabriel urge Air France to halt transport of lab monkeys for medical research; airline says trade is vital for research
The world's best-known primate expert, Jane Goodall, and musician Peter Gabriel have joined a growing list of celebrities urging Air France to stop transporting monkeys for medical research, a move that would mean no big passenger airline in the world would do so.
Goodall called on the French carrier to end its "involvement in this cruel trade", while Gabriel, who has played with bonobo apes on keyboards, said he felt troubled that the airline was taking animals "to laboratories where they will be forced to live in pain and misery, experimented on and eventually killed".
The European Animal Research Association (EARA) endorsed the airline's stance and told The Guardian it was "an embarrassment to UK life sciences that British Airways and Virgin (Atlantic) will not transport animals for medical research". The remark, made by EARA's executive director, Kirk Leech, came as the US drug maker Pfizer gave up its attempt to buy the firm AstraZeneca after unions and politicians criticised the deal, which they said was motivated by tax avoidance and cuts to research budgets.
UK research using animals not bred at home depends on air transport, and animal welfare supporters' opposition to transportation includes ferry traffic of farm animals destined for slaughter in Europe.
The most recent figures on procedures applied to monkeys in the UK, relating to 2012, show that those using marmosets fell 19 per cent on the previous year, a drop of 68 to 283. Likewise the number of these animals used was reduced, by 12 to 232. But figures for macaques rose for both aspects: by 29 per cent for procedures, a rise of 613 to 2,737, and for the number of animals, up 739 to 1,954.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), the National Anti-Vivisection Society and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection have garnered powerful high-profile support for their campaigns against Air France, with singer Justin Bieber, actor James Cromwell and TV wildlife presenter Chris Packham among those backing their aims.