Created by Commonwealth Relations Office
26 May 1955
Description:

'Supply of Rhesus monkeys from India

Note by Commonwealth Relations Office

Of types of monkeys required for medical research the Rhesus is the one which is principally used and for present purposes is the only monkey satisfactory for the production of polio vaccine. The principal source of supply has been the Indian sub-continent, where the Rhesus is predominantly found and at the present time they have only been obtained on any scale from the Indian Republic where there exist established organisations for trapping, conditioning and shipping animals to the required standard...

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2. Up till now the United Kingdom requirement of monkeys has been of the order of a few hundred a year. In 1954 over 100,000 monkeys are estimated to have been shipped from India to the U.S. and it is probable that the capacity of the supply organisation at present existing in India is of the order of 150,000 to 200,000 a year.

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4. The Indian Government's decision to license the export of monkeys came at a time when details of the Salk vaccine had been generally released and when in the United Kingdom it had been decided to proceed with the manufacture of vaccine and carrying out research and tests. In consequence the United Kingdom requirement of monkeys had grown almost overnight from some hundreds to some thousands a year and in order to meet the situation arising out of the licensing regulations an overall application for 7,000 monkeys in the year 1955 was made to the Government of India. This was designed to cover the United Kingdom's requirements for all purposes (e.g. manufacture and testing of polio vaccine and normal laboratory requirements) except research carried on under the aegis of the Ministry of Supply, and was made on behalf of the Medical Research Council with the agreement of the main organisations concerned. The object was to centralise United Kingdom requirements for licensing purposes. ...

5. The Commonwealth Relations Office has now been approached by Mr. T.E. Patterson the Delhi representative of Shamrock Farms Ltd. who is the principal supplier of monkeys in India. Mr. Patterson has reported that with the release of information about the Salk vaccine a serious situation has arisen, as the immediate demand including that licensed by the Indian Government very much exceeds available supplies. Apart from the large U.S. demand which may well increase from its previous level the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Western Germany and Switzerland are now actively interested and have entered the market. As a result the market has been invaded by "mushroom" exporters anxious to make quick profits, prices have risen severely, and in the seller's market prevailing monkeys by no means conforming to research standards were being forced [sic] on buyers. While this situation is in itself undesirable there is also a danger that some scandal may arise as a result of bad treatment by less reputable exporters which may attract unfavourable publicity in India to an already sensitive subject and which might compel the Indian Government to restrict very severely or possibly to ban further export of monkeys. In any case while it may seem unlikely that the Indian Government would impose a complete ban, any further restrictions which would involve holding up still further the orderly flow of supplies would be most undesirable.

6. Mr. Patterson has also informed us that it is not the intention of the Indian Government to continue licensing on the same terms as they are at present ... Patterson has suggested that with the very greatly increased demand now obtaining competition will still be very severe and that the potentially dangerous situation envisaged in paragraph 5 above will still obtain. He has formed the opinion that the best answer to the problem is for the importing countries for form some organisation which could agree to demands of individual countries, negotiate with the Indian government for licenses, and stabilize the position in regard to price and standards of animals supplied. Mr. Patterson claimed to have discussed this proposition already with the American Embassy in Delhi who were generally in favour of the proposal and who had recommended him to the U.S. Government (Mr. Patterson has already left for Washington and is proceeding thence to Ottowa). The Americans were in a more difficult position because their temporary allocations ran out at the end of June. Mr. Patterson also claimed to have discussed it with the Canadian High Commissioner in Delhi.

7. The need for some kind of international agreement over the supply of Rhesus monkeys would appear to depend primarily on the extent to which the problem is likely to be a long term one e.g. on an assessment of what the likely demand of all importing countries is likely to be and of whether it will be possible to meet this in an orderly way from all sources of supply including India. For the immediate present it is clear that India will continue to be the main source of supply since apart from questions of availability the setting up of supply organisations elsewhere is bound to take some months. Pakistan is already being investigated and if the situation requires it, it is probable that other sources will be followed up. These are however limited. The use of monkeys other than Rhesus for the production of polio vaccine is also being looked into, but does not offer a short term solution.

8. If it is decided that the problem is likely to be of sufficient size to justify our considering taking an initiative to secure some measure of agreement between the principal importing countries further consideration will be necessary as to the best means of achieving this e.g. whether through the national research organisations concerned, by reference to any existing international bodies such as the World Health Organisation, or by agreement between governments and at what level.'