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German authority halts primate work
Licence for macaque experiments will not be renewed.

Quirin Schiermeier

Andreas Kreiter plans to appeal the controversial decision to stop his studies of cognition in macaques. J. Sarbach/AP

Germany's constitution guarantees its citizens the freedom to conduct research � but local authorities in the northern city of Bremen are forcing a leading neuroscientist to halt his primate experiments. A court will probably now have to decide whether the controversial ruling violates federal law.

Andreas Kreiter at the University of Bremen uses 24 macaques to study cognitive processes in the mammalian brain. Germany's largest animal-protection group, the Animal Welfare Association, has for years campaigned against the experiments, claiming that they are intolerably painful and have no short-term therapeutic use.

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081027/full/4551159a.html