FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Experimenting on Animals: Inside the Monkey Lab

VICE News gets rare access to Europe's largest monkey testing lab, which tries to balance animal welfare with trying to find cures for the world's most deadly diseases.

VICE News gets rare access to Europe's largest primate testing facility, the Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC) in the Netherlands, where scientists try to find cures for the worst human diseases, while claiming to provide unparalleled care for the monkeys in the hope they live the most animal friendly life before and during testing.

Once selected, inside the laboratories, monkeys are shaved, anesthetized, and experimented on for research purposes.

Yet the center remains controversial. Protestors gather regularly in front of its gates and there are calls in the Dutch parliament to close the site and switch to alternatives for testing on primates.

But as the BPRC explains to VICE News, modern science isn't there yet. In the meantime, it still uses about 200 monkeys a year for a slew of experiments to find cures, and even replacements for primate testing in the future.

Read "Europe Rejects 1.2 Million Signatory Petition to Ban Animal Testing" 

Watch "Poaching, Drugs, and Murder in Costa Rica: Shell Game (Full Length)"