What Happens to Monkeys in Experiments?
Each year, rhesus monkeys suffer in a KNAW laboratory in an attempt to learn more about human consciousness and visual perception. The monkeys are just three to four years old when the experiments begin. They are subjected to repeated surgeries on their skulls and brains. Experimenters attach a head fixation post to their skulls using screws and dental cement to keep their heads still during brain measurements. In later surgeries, a part of their skulls is removed to implant electrodes into their brains. Over several years, the monkeys are forced to participate in experiments, performing behavioural tasks under stress. Their water intake is restricted and used as a reward to coerce their cooperation, and they are exposed to loud, distressing scans.
At the end of these experiments, many monkeys are killed, and their brains are dissected. Survivors are reused in other experiments. These monkeys will never experience the freedom of swinging through the trees with their friends and family, forming bonds with their troop, foraging for food, feeling the sun's warmth, or breathing fresh air. Instead, they live and die in the laboratory.
Outdated Science Slows Progress
Experiments on monkeys and other animals are cruel, ineffective, and unreliable. As a government-funded institution, the KNAW is spending Dutch taxpayer money on experiments that the public wants to end. Increasing evidence shows that due to key biological differences, results of experiments on other animals rarely apply to humans, including for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke.
Advanced, non-animal alternatives—such as organs-on-chips, computer simulations, human patient simulators, and the use of human volunteers—provide reliable results without cruelty. PETA’s Research Modernisation NOW outlines a strategy for replacing harmful experiments on monkeys and other animals with these superior methods.
The KNAW Must Stop Experimenting on Monkeys
In an email shared with PETA by a whistleblower in 2023, the KNAW board, based on a unanimous decision, announced to its members that it would end its experiments on monkeys by October 1, 2032, when the longest-running research grant expires.
Earlier this year, PETA discovered that the council representing employees of the KNAW took the board to court, arguing the decision had not been properly justified. Shockingly, the court sided with them. The ruling is especially shameful, given the generous transition period that allows time for experimenters to retrain and for the principal investigator to retire as planned. However, the ruling allows the KNAW board to reissue its decision, this time taking into account all the interests of those affected.
PETA is urging the KNAW board to renew its decision to end experiments on monkeys and transfer the animals to reputable sanctuaries. Just a few weeks ago, an amendment passed the Dutch Senate to phase out government funding for experiments on monkeys at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre by 2030. The KNAW cannot stay behind.