Between 2006 and 2008 four applications to conduct brain research on primates were denied by the competent authorities in Germany and Switzerland. All three authorities turned down the applications for ethical reasons.

Since the neuroscience researcher Andreas Kreiter was appointed to the University of Bremen in 1997, there has been vehement resistance. Thanks to the countless protests of tens of thousands of citizens, politicians reacted. The competent authoritiy denied a further extension of Kreiter's permit.