Erm. A title over at the Times Online site.
‘Germ warfare’ fear over African monkeys taken to Iran
Could it not be possible that Iran is merely interested in simian welfare unlike the rest of the world? They might really care about wiping out disease from our monkey brethren, having been torn with remorse and urged by compassion to do the right thing.
Why must people always assume the worst of Iran?
Marburg Virus (Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever) – Not saying anything… just sayin’.
Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments.
An undercover inquiry by The Sunday Times has revealed that wild monkeys, which are banned from experiments in Britain, are being freely supplied in large numbers to laboratories in other parts of the world. All will undergo invasive and maybe painful experiments leading ultimately to their death.
One Tanzanian dealer, Nazir Manji, who runs African Primates, an animal-supplying company based in Dar es Salaam, said that in recent years he had been selling up to 4,000 vervet monkeys a year to laboratories, charging about £60 each.
Vervets are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). Despite this they are being routinely caught and sold to any buyer prepared to pay.
Another Tanzanian dealer, Filbert Rubibira, was asked last year to prepare an order of monkeys to send to the Chinese military for “scientific purposes”. The deal was cancelled at the last minute for reasons that were unclear. [more...]
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4276460.ece
The germ warfare angle is a red herring. I’ve got the real story on my blog here:
http://willward.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/its-later-than-we-think/
I love herring! Pickled is best.
Really, I agree, it’s mostly BS. If it were really an issue, it wouldn’t have gone this long w/o notice.
It makes for exciting reading, however. This is not to say that there aren’t people who would love to weaponize something like ebola or marburg, but they wouldn’t do so by this method. With proper care, the mortality rate is in the low 20’s (percent). They could do much better if they chose to go this route – which is about the stupidest thing possible unless one has a death wish.
I’m a big fan of anything that mocks conspiracy nuts, so if you find one that is worth being satirized, give me a heads-up.
Aquatic monkeys harvesting caviar. I KNEW it!