Backyard vivisectionist indignant

November 15, 2008

November 15 2008 at 10:59AM

By Sheree BégaA Free State doctor facing charges of animal cruelty for paralysing a heavily pregnant wild monkey believes it was destined to become the "most famous monkey in the world" because of his stem cell research experiment.The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) last week expressed its outrage over Dr Gert Jordaan's "horrific backyard experiment", in which the foetus of the vervet monkey was removed and the spinal cord of its mother severed. It was left paralysed and incontinent.The NSPCA later euthanased the mother and her days-old infant because of the trauma they had been forced to endure.But Jordaan, a doctor in physiology, said the NSPCA's intervention had jeopardised his "revolutionary" research in using embryonic stem cells to repair the damaged spinal cords of quadriplegics.

Charges of cruelty have now been laid against Jordaan, two vets involved in the procedure, the owner of the house where the monkey was kept - ex-Springbok rugby player Barry Wolmarans - and an ophthalmologist.While the spinal cord procedure was under way, the ophthalmologist allegedly conducted her own research by making an incision in one of the monkey's eyes.Jordaan claims he didn't know that the monkey - which a local farmer, fighting off "plagues" of them, caught for him - was pregnant. "After we put it under, I saw it was pregnant, so we did a caesarean... My intention was to cut the spinal cord very low so the [adult] monkey can still use its front limbs."I took a little piece, which would be used to transplant back into her spinal cord as embryonic stem cells to make her walk again."This is what I'm doing on human beings. It has never been done," he claimed."In two months the monkey would have walked again. That's the miracle. "Then they [the NSPCA] go and put her out. It would've been the most famous vervet monkey in the world. I was on the brink of a breakthrough and was stopped in the act. I never meant evil."If you're in a wheelchair and can use only your head and this monkey is standing between you and walking again, would you say no? Nobody would."But his research was never approved by any animal ethics committee, to which protocols for experimentation on animals must be submitted for consideration. The Free State University's animal research unit had also apparently denied Jordaan access to conduct his research. "With the vervet I decided I'm not going to follow protocols. About 18 months ago I started similar research and tried to follow protocols. They wanted a protocol as thick as a doctor's degree. It's ridiculous. I'm not doing that. It's one vervet monkey."I can't stop when a lot of people are calling me to help. This work could help millions."But Este Kotze, the manager of the research and ethics unit at the NSPCA, dismisses Jordaan's claim of a medical breakthrough."If he was so passionate about his work, why not follow the correct protocols? "International scientific journals will not accept results that haven't been approved by an animal ethics committee." She said his experiment was not conducted in a clinical manner and that the monkey was left in a cage in the backyard of Wolmarans's house. No painkillers or veterinary care were administered. But Jordaan claims he looked after it "as my own child". He is due to perform a stem cell transplant on a quadriplegic doctor within the next six weeks."I've received letters from the Health Department and Medical Research Council and they do not object."It will be the first operation of its kind in the world. My main aim is to connect the broken spinal cords. If I can get that right, people will stand again. My cause is much bigger than this little monkey."The Saturday Star was unable to confirm whether the transplants had in fact been approved by the Health Department or the Medical Research Council.

This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on November 15, 2008

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