Following the radiation exposure
"NASA is squandering nearly $2 million of the public's money on a project that harms animals and won't protect astronauts," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Blasting these sensitive, social animals with radiation is like planning a trip to Mars in a Wright Brothers airplane. It's pointless, wasteful, and cruel."
Following the radiation exposure, the animals would likely suffer from brain damage, cancer, or loss of motor control. These highly intelligent and social animals would spend the rest of their lives in a laboratory--isolated in cages and subjected to years of behavioral experiments. PETA points out that the results of these radiation experiments on monkeys cannot be reliably applied to humans and that humane, non-animal alternatives are available.
Even the European Space Agency--NASA's European counterpart--has stated
whatever that it "declines any interest in monkey research and does not consider any need or use for such result."
