Pros And Cons Of Nasa's Monkey Radiation Experiments

Celebrities Take a Stand against NASA’s Monkey Radiation Experiments

Back in 2009, the US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opted to fund a research proposed by Dr. Jack Bergman, a Behavior Pharmacologist at Harvard University Medical School’s McLean Hospital. Dr. Bergman has gained a reputation for his research studies done on primates over the past two decades.

The research involved subjecting 27 squirrel monkeys to high-energy gamma-ray radiation, and then observing how they performed tasks afterward to see if the radiation affected them in any way. NASA considered funding the project to see how long-term space missions like trips to the moon or even to Mars can affect humans, since the experiment was a simulation of

It was also during this time when the ESA or European Space Agency aired their opinion on NASA’s thwarted plan, stating it “declines any interest in monkey research and does not consider any need or use for such result”. Incidentally, even former NASA astronauts and employees were vehemently against it.

“Cruelty to animals has no part in NASA’s mission, and the agency’s decision to call off this cruel experiment has us over the moon,” said PETA’s Alistair Currie. “We believe that officials finally realised that blasting monkeys with radiation is just bad science.”

Thanks to the collective efforts of celebrities and concerned organizations, the monkeys were spared from being used as guinea pigs for an otherwise “cruel”