Macaques with sutured eyelids, kept closed for a year, to study the neurobiological consequences of blindness. Females separated from their baby just after birth, who are given, in compensation, a soft toy, to understand the springs of attachment in primates. This research, carried out within the medical school of the American University Harvard, has caused a wave of indignation since the publication, in mid-September, of an article presenting the results, in the prestigious American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Monday, October 17, 250 scientists – ethologists and primatologists, for the most part – wrote to the publication asking it to retract the article A rare approach, on which the journal has not yet commented. Contacted by The worldthis responds to be “Aware of the concerns raised and formally assess the criticisms addressed to the newspaper”. PNAS also recalls that studies on animal models must comply with their editorial policy.
The contested work was conducted by Professor Margaret Livingstone, of Harvard’s Department of Neurobiology. This is at the request of the journal PNAS that this researcher, recently elected to the American Academy of Sciences, has published the results of her observations of primates separated from their babies, as part of a series of writings by new members of the institution.
The university justified, in a press release, this research which “provides essential knowledge on vision, brain development and neurological disorders”
Dr. Livingstone relates that females have become attached to their “doudou” by touch, with a preference for soft stuffed animals over hard toys. The article of PNAS also cites previous work by the same team on vision loss, which involved temporarily suturing the eyelids of newborn macaques. The effect was to fade after a few days, but the primates actually kept their eyes closed for a year. This visual deprivation is no longer in progress at Harvard University, but maternal separation continues to be practiced.
Catherine Hobaiter, primatologist at the University of Saint-Andrews (Scotland), on the initiative with a doctoral student, Gal Badihi, of the letter sent to PNASsaid she was particularly shocked by the methods used. “Since the 1960s, we have known that experiences that rely on maternal separation are extremely problematic. We can and must do better today. » The publication of this work also outraged the animal protection association PETA, which asked Harvard to immediately stop these experiments.
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