Editing Great Ape Project (section)

===Humanist opposition===
Professor [[Colin Blakemore]], head of the Medical Research Council in the [[United Kingdom]] from 2003–2007, is opposed to granting rights to non-human apes, stating "I can see no current necessity for the use of great apes, and I'm pleased that they're not being used and that every effort is being made to reduce the use of other primates. But I worry about the principle of where the moral boundaries lie. There is only one very secure definition that can be made, and that is between our species and others." Blakemore suggests that it would be necessary to perform research on great apes if humans were threatened by a pandemic virus that afflicted only humans and other great apes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Connor |first=Steve |date=2006-06-02 |title=Scientists 'should be allowed to test on apes' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-should-be-allowed-to-test-on-apes-480902.html |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> The [[British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection]] described Blakemore's stance as "backward-looking".<ref>{{cite news |date=March 28, 2001 |title=Ban all experiments on the higher primates |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/ban-all-experiments-on-the-higher-primates-689212.html }}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic|fix-attempted=yes}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/000000005549.htm|title=The great ape debate|author=Helene Guldberg|date=March 29, 2001|publisher=Spiked online|access-date=November 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521070438/http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/000000005549.htm|archive-date=May 21, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>