A worldwide shortage of laboratory apes and monkeys could be holding back research into new drug treatments and genetics, it has been claimed. The problem, highlighted in the first global audit of primate studies, is said to threaten advances aimed at tackling HIV and neurological diseases. Swedish experts scoured 3,000 research papers to determine the extent to which primates were used in research in 2001. The findings are reported in this week’s New Scientist magazine.
