INTERNATIONAL PRIMATE DAY

That this House welcomes International Primate Day on 1st September 2006, organised by Animal Defenders International; expresses its deep concern that the United Kingdom has become Europe's largest user of laboratory monkeys; notes that the use of monkeys in military experiments has soared by 76 per cent. in the last five years; highlights that the use of non-human primates is an unreliable predictor of likely human effects, as the disastrous TGN1412 tests have shown; is alarmed by the fact that the very existence of many primate species is threatened by the bushmeat, laboratory and pet trades as well as the use of primates for entertainment; calls on the Government to push for a ban on primates in experiments at EU level during the current revision process of EU Directive 86/609; and asks the Government to support the Berlin Declaration calling for an end to primate experiments, which has been signed by over 70 organisations worldwide.