Sort of. If I understand correctly, from my reading of things so far, the half-dozen rhesus monkeys exposed to radiation back in the 1960s were studied as late as the 1990s in order to understand the persistent effects from radiation 20-30 years prior. Since the typical lifespan of a rhesus monkey is 15-25 years those monkeys have presumably all died of old age by now,

> Also, is this future spending (aka FY 2011 budget line items) or is this something that is in the more recent past?

I’m not sure exactly which part of NASA the primate studies fall under, but I remember PETA throwing a fuss about this back in November 2009, long before FY2011 was proposed:

http://www.space.com/news/091119-nasa-peta-protest.html

I would like to find a source for this information…. seriously! I was under the impression that experiments with monkeys ended with the cancellation of the Mercury program, but I am certainly willing to be surprised and be corrected on this point.

Also, is this future spending (aka FY 2011 budget line items) or is this something that is in the more recent past?

Oh well…

Also, you do realize how important experiments like this are to ensuring the safety of astronauts, particularly those on future BEO missions, right? Additionally, experiments like this must go through several layers of review to ensure that the experiments are scientifically important and carried out in a responsible fashion.

As it stands, NASA plans to spend close to $2 million to expose monkeys to debilitating radiation despite their being a long history of radiation experiments carried out specifically on primates which have not yielded any useful results. What we have learned from those experiments is that the animals will likely suffer a great deal. Potential harms include cancerous tumors, loss of motor control, blindness, skin damage, mental degradation, and premature death.

With such high stakes, the polite and momentary interruption of a speech hardly seems to be a bold move.