From Jarrod Bailey, Cruelty Free International
Andy Coghlan reports a monkey being genetically engineered to have Parkinson's disease (18 June, p 12). The superficial similarity between humans and monkeys is of little benefit when it comes to research into neurological diseases like Parkinson's.
Applying data from monkeys to humans is highly unreliable and of questionable value, especially when alternative methods are available. Scientists should be focusing effort on more human-relevant methods, such as ethical studies on patients or “brain on a chip” and 3D tissue cultures.
London, UK
