The New York Times has highlighted the growing fears of the US biomedical community as China's export ban on monkeys, vital for research and testing on Covid-19, enters its second year.
In the article, experts including Skip Bohm, the associate director and chief veterinary medical officer at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, Louisiana, discussed the future prospects of creating a strategic monkey reserve in the US.
Before the pandemic, China provided over 60 percent of the 33,818 primates, mostly cynomolgus macaques, imported into the United States in 2019 - about 600 to 800 of those animals have been subject to coronavirus research since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, EARA featured in an article by Research Professional News on the topic, quoting the association's letter to the EU Commission and to the World Trade Organization, calling for an end to the ban.
A spokesperson for the Chinese government Mission to the EU told the publication: "China would consider resuming export approval” after the “epidemic situation improves and export conditions are met."