Around 3,000 monkeys are still used for scientific trials – mainly for research into human diseases such as Parkinson's, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, HIV and strokes – every year in the UK because of similarities in brain physiology.
Last year, more than 800 monkeys died in laboratory experiments in Scottish research centres.
Around Europe, 10,000 primates are used in experiments every year but some members of the European Parliament are pressing for a ban.
One supporter of a ban is Scottish MEP David Martin, who called for the development of alternatives.
"It is the failure to develop and validate modern non-animal tests that perpetuates the reliance on out-dated animal experimentation, and when these procedures are carried out on our closest animal relatives, people are rightly appalled," he said.
A spokesman for the campaign group Advocates for Animals said: "There is huge political and public support for a European ban on the use of great apes and Dr Ferdowsian's research makes an already strong case unanswerable."
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