German national magazine Der Spiegel has published an informative and sympathetic article on Andreas Kreiter (pictured), a neuroscientist from the University of Bremen, Germany.
Entitled Hate Figure for Animal Testing Opponents, the article (and in German) explains that Kreiter – who conducts research on the brains of rhesus macaques to better understand neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy – is ‘probably the scientist who has been most publicly attacked and threatened, and probably also the one who has to fight most bitterly for his research’.
The most recent attack came in early October in a leaflet distributed by opponents to almost 60,000 households in the north of Bremen. The leaflet dismissed the need for any research with non-human primates into neurological diseases and called for such research to be outlawed.
Nevertheless, Kreiter’s research continues due to legal victories against the federal state of Bremen that has tried to halt his studies – eight court rulings have upheld his right to perform animal experiments under Germany’s strict regulations.
The Der Spiegel article explains in detail Kreiter’s work and puts into overall context why animals are used in research and their contribution to medical breakthroughs. It says that Kreiter’s work is curiosity driven, but with no clinical application in sight after 25 years of work.
However, it also illustrates how Kreiter’s work has informed the research of scientists at the German Primate Center, in Göttingen, including in the development of neuroprosthetics – brain-controlled artificial limbs that could aid patients with paralysis or degenerative diseases like ALS.