Malaysia’s monkeys given protection

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 20

Malaysia’s monkeys given protection

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Malaysia, a major supplier of monkeys for scientific research in developed countries, has put a five-year ban on further exports after hearing that the animals have been used in nuclear and chemical warfare experiments, and treated cruelly.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, Datuk Amar Stephen Yong, said that Malaysia had allowed monkey exports in the past only because it believed that it was contributing to medical research for the benefit of mankind.

Investigations by the Washing-ton-based International Primate Protection League had revealed that some Malaysian monkeys were being subjected to nuclear radiation and chemical warfare tests in the United States.

Several monkey shipments were sent to a U.S. Air Force base where they were exposed to massive , doses of neutron radiation, subjected to varying degrees of electric shocks and forced to run on treadmills until they died, I.P.P.L.’s regional representative, Marjorie Dogget, said. The Malaysian environmentalist group Sahabat Alam Malaysia cites cases in overseas research institutes where weights are dropped on the spines of live monkeys to study the crippling effects.

RAJAN MOSES,

“There is no need for monkeys or other animals to be put through pain and misery in experiments when tissue culture and biopsy techniques or genetic technology may prove to be far more reliable alternatives,” a S.A.M. official said.

Government officials said that Malaysian policy had been to export monkeys to foreign research institutes on the condition that they were used only for pharmaceutical experiments, development of polio and measles vaccines, and related scientific research.

“We knew that monkeys were being used in nuclear tests, but we were certain that Malaysian monkeys were not being used for such tests because it is not allowed under agreements signed with importing institutes,” Mr Yong said. Malaysia has exported mostly long-tailed macaque monkeys. About 12,000 macaques were exported in 1977, and 18,000 the following year. The number dropped drastically in 1979, when the government imposed an annual export quota of 5000 monkeys. Ministry officials say that during the last three years, only about 9000 monkeys have been exported. Environmentalists, who were instrumental in bringing about the ban, say that the number could be closer to 15,000.

of Reuters, in Kuala Lumpur

The main markets for Malaysian monkeys since 1977 have been research institutes in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, . Hong Kong and Rumania, according to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

S.A.M. and I.P.P.L. officials fear that research institutes from industrialised countries will now import more monkeys from the Philippines and Indonesia. “We hope that Malaysia, as a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations will be able to coax Indonesia and the Philippines to stop exporting monkeys,” an I.P.P.L. official said. During the five-year ban on exports, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks will conduct a detailed study of the longtailed macaque population in Malaysian jungles. Mr Yong said that the study would investigate the reason for the sharp decline in Malaysia’s macaque population, from an estimated 300,000 in 1975 to 200,000 today. It would also indicate whether the macaque was a species which needed protection.

“A definite decision on whether to ban macaque exports permanently, or to allow them again, will be made after the study has been completed,” he said.