NABR Files Formal Petition Challenging the Reclassification of Long Tailed Macaques
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Contact: Eva Maciejewski
(202) 967-8305
WASHINGTON – The National Association for Biomedical Research submitted a formal petition on Monday to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Standards and Petitions Committee challenging the IUCN’s 2022 designation of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) as “Endangered.” Filing of the formal petition follows informal discussions between scientific reviewers and the authors of the 2022 IUCN assessment upon which the recent IUCN determination is based.
Long-tailed macaques are the most widely used non-rodent species for drug development as well as for drug safety and efficacy testing. This species is also essential for the advancement of cancer treatments, immunology science, regenerative medicine, and genetic disease research.
The NABR petition concludes that the 2022 IUCN assessment, “did not reach objective scientific conclusions regarding the status ofM. fascicularis as required by IUCN criteria, and more importantly, fails to meet basic scientific ethics and standards.” The NABR petition also concludes the IUCN assessment “fails to present evidence to support reclassification of M. fascicularisfrom vulnerable to endangered.”
“Given the lack of data on trends in abundance, and misrepresentation of the data that do exist in the IUCN assessment, there is no reasonable expectation that, presented with this same information, independent groups of scientists would reach similar conclusion to those contained in this assessment,” stated Dr. Ray Hilborn, a world-renowned scientist and member of NABR’s scientific review team.
“The NABR scientific review team is surprised and dismayed with statements contained in the IUCN assessment that clearly conflict with and misstate published literature, suggesting a biased interpretation of available scientific information” added Dr. Hilborn.
“Given the conclusions reached by respected scientists that are contained in the petition, the only reasonable course of action is for the IUCN to conduct a new scientific assessment ofM. fascicularis,” states Matthew R. Bailey, president of the National Association for Biomedical Research.
“The IUCN assessment needs to be redone in a more scientifically defensible way by an independent group of authors who are not involved in advocacy work involving this species, using quantitative data,” added Mr. Bailey.
More information regarding the NABR petition is available online atwww.nabr.org.
About the National Association for Biomedical Research
Founded in 1979, the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR) is the only 501(c)(6) nonprofit association dedicated to sound public policy for the humane use of animals in biomedical research, education, and testing. Members include more than 340 universities, medical and veterinary schools, teaching hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, patient groups, and academic and professional societies who rely on humane and responsible animal research to advance global human and animal health. Learn more about us atwww.nabr.org.