'Plans for primate research centre dropped'
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Your support makes all the difference.Plans for a new primate research centre have been dropped by Cambridge University, partly because of the expected cost of protecting it from animal rights activists, it was reported today.
The controversial laboratory has become a focus of the growing battle between researchers and anti-vivisectionists opposed to the use of monkeys for medical research.
The decision to scrap the development, funded by the University with the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, was made after costs grew from £24 million to more than £32 million, reported BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The centre was backed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has spoken passionately about the dangers of allowing scientific research to be impeded by activists.
The BBC quoted one university spokesman as saying: "We can't afford to build and run Fort Knox."
Planning permission for the lab was granted by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott after a hard-fought battle, but the animal rights groups Animal Aid and the National Anti-Vivisection Society have launched a High Court challenge to his decision.
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