The introduction of this report looks set to spark off another war of words between pro- and anti-vivisectionists trying to win public support on the issue of primate experiments. The report, published by the UK's Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust, lists medical advances that they claim would have been impossible without experiments on monkeys.

These include polio vaccines, which have virtually eliminated the disease in the USA and Europe since the 1950s, life-support systems for premature babies, kidney dialysis, anti-rejection drugs for organ transplant recipients and drugs to combat asthma.

Future research that would benefit from ape testing includes treatments for Parkinson's disease and measures to prevent blindness in the elderly. Primate research would also be vital to identify treatments for HIV.

The process of drug development ends with the final phase involving the drug being testing on humans. However, 60 per cent of potential drugs were rejected at the animal testing stage.

These experiments are investigating diseases and conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and strokes.

Completion of the report came as campaigners for and against animal testing staged two separate protests in the row over Oxford University's new £20m animal research laboratory.

In addition, supporters of animal testing held a rally in Oxford, while anti-vivisection campaigners were demonstrating in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire.

The report - Primates in Medical Research, could be seen as a direct response to the UK government's decision in 1997 in which they stated they would never approve ape research because they were too similar to humans. However, there is no law prohibiting the practice.

Recent studies have suggested that like humans and great apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees, macaques and other smaller monkeys are more aware of themselves and of others than was previously thought, giving them an equivalent moral status.

"No one likes doing primate experiments, but some research can only be done on monkeys," said Wellcome Trust director Mark Walport during a press conference.

This week also sees a report by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, which calls for a complete ban on monkey experiments in the UK on moral as well as scientific grounds.

The report can be viewed >here.