The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has backtracked on its promise to end experiments on monkeys by 2032, stalling progress after internal opposition led to a legal challenge. This reversal means that monkeys will continue to endure cruel experiments, such as having electrodes implanted in their brains.
This decision comes despite years of pressure from the Dutch Parliament, which has consistently called for a phase out of experiments on monkeys, and strong public support - 78% of Dutch citizens want these experiments to end, according to a national poll. In 2023, the Parliament passed a motion requesting independent research into how to phase out such experiments. Following this, the KNAW initially committed to ending monkey experiments. Please take action now to ensure the KNAW board follows through on its decision to end experiments on monkeys!
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 they are exposed to loud, distressing scans.
At the end of their miserable lives in small cages, many monkeys are killed, and their brains are dissected. They are reused as laboratory tools for further experiments if they are not killed. 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Outdated Science Slows Progress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 taxpayer money on experiments that the public wants to end. Increasing evidence shows that research on other animals rarely applies to humans. Due to key biological differences, findings from experiments on animals are often irrelevant to human conditions like 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 Deal 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 works council representing employees of the KNAW took the KNAW board to court, arguing the decision had not been properly justified. Shockingly, the court sided with them, halting the plan. The court case is especially shameful given the generous transition period until 2032, allowing time for experimenters to retrain and for the principal investigator to retire as planned. 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.