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NASA’s radiation tests on monkeys not relevant to space research

The monkey experiment — which NASA plans to fund with $1.75 million of taxpayer money – disregards both ethics and common sense.

No need to harm primates in NASA’s radiation tests, By APRIL EVANS HOUSTON CHRONICLE

9 Dec 10, “…….I’m extremely disappointed that during tough program cuts, NASA continues to defend expensive primate research that is unlikely to produce anything of value to human space flight. I worked for nine years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in human space flight and was a NASA Space Flight Awareness honoree. However, I resigned after NASA was unwilling to listen to my scientific criticism of these experiments.

NASA is planning a misconceived experiment at Harvard’s McLean Hospital and the Brookhaven National Laboratory in which dozens of highly intelligent squirrel monkeys would be irradiated in an effort to simulate the effects of space radiation. Protecting astronauts from space radiation exposure is the most critical issue to advancing human space exploration beyond earth’s orbit. But irradiating monkeys and locking them in laboratory cages and physical restraints for years to observe how their brains and bodies deteriorate is not the solution.

First, space radiation cannot be simulated in a laboratory. International Space Station scientists from every represented space agency reported in 2009 that “[t]he Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) environment is the most complex mixture of radiation known. It is doubtful that the GCR will ever be adequately simulated in the laboratory for biological experiments.” This backward approach puts animals in harm’s way, and also puts astronauts at risk by not working to advance radiation shielding technology.

The monkey experiment — which NASA plans to fund with $1.75 million of taxpayer money – disregards both ethics and common sense. In the planned experiment, monkeys would be exposed to a single dose of radiation for less than one day, whereas human astronauts on any mission – especially one to deep space – are exposed to varying levels of radiation over the duration of the mission. Previous research has demonstrated that the effects of a single dose of radiation cannot predict the effects of prolonged exposure.

Further, the proposed project assumes that when we send humans beyond earth’s orbit, we will be using the same radiation shielding we are currently using. The space radiation problem came into the spotlight in 1972 when Apollo 16 and 17 narrowly missed a solar flare that was intense enough to have crippled the vehicle. We should not subject humans to the risks of space radiation using current technology, yet radiation shielding technology has evolved very little over the last 40 years…..

No need to harm primates in NASA’s radiation tests | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

December 11, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Religion and ethics, USA