This article provides an overview of the ethical issues raised by the use of
non-human primates (NHPs) in research involving scientific procedures which
may cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. It is not an exhaustive
review of the literature and views on this subject, and it does not present
any conclusions about the moral acceptability or otherwise of NHP research.
Rather the aim has been to identify the ethical issues involved and to
provide guidance on how these might be addressed, in particular by carefully
examining the scientific rationale for NHP use, implementing fully the 3Rs
principle of Russell and Burch (1959) and applying a robust "harm-benefit
assessment" to research proposals involving NHPs