Petition to stop the importation of primates to be presented to Parliament
On the 16th of September I received a petition signed by 11,000 people calling for the end to the importation of primates into Australia for the purpose of medical research.
The petition was handed to me by Helen Marsten from Humane Research Australia (HRA). I will present the petition to the Federal Parliament of Australia on their behalf.
According the the HRA in the period 2000 to 2009, a total of 324 pigtail macaques were imported from Indonesia into Australia for medical research purposes. These primates may have been captured from the wild and transported to laboratories in Australia.
Australia is already home to three government funded primate breeding facilities. These are the National Marmoset and Macaque Facilities at Churchill, Victoria and the National Baboon Facility in Sydney, all of which breed animals specifically for the purpose of being used in research.
11,000 people want to see the end of the importation and I am happy to present this petition to Parliament.
Once presented to Parliament the petition will go directly to the Minister for a response from the Government.
The National Health and Medical Research Council which oversees the ethics of medical research will be holding a review of the Policy on the Care and Use of Non-Human Primates for Scientific Purposes.
The Policy currently states that non-human primates must be sourced from within Australia whenever possible, and that non-human primates imported from overseas must not be taken from wild populations. Imported non-human primates must, under the Policy, be accompanied by documentation to certify their status.
I want to thanks Helen and all those that signed the petition.
