MADISON, Wis. -- Primate research is not new -- the first primate dissection dates back to 1699.

And yet, it's the modern medical research using monkeys at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that routinely makes headlines. That research and the question of whether animals should be used was the focus of a debate on campus on Monday night.

Dr. Paul Kaufman spoke in support of the research. He is the chairman of the UW-Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and uses monkeys in his work. He said he believes the results are so useful that ending the practice would force humans to accept a tough reality.

"I would ask you how many are prepared to die earlier, sustain a physical disability or a disease earlier than they would otherwise?" Kaufman asked the crowd of about 250 people.

Opponents of animal research said this didn't sway them.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense to me at all. You're going to die whenever you do, and whatever progress we've made so far is still going to be there," said Rick Bogle, the co-director for the Madison-based Alliance for Animals.

Bogle spoke in opposition to work involving primates and said that he believes -- at a basic level -- the animals are being mistreated.

"We're locking them away in these little boxes. We're experimenting on them. We're frightening them. We're hurting them," said Bogle. "And what we're saying is that it might -- down the road -- there's an off chance it might do us some sort of good."

Kaufman disagreed and said monkeys have been part of proven medical breakthroughs.

"When I was the age of you," Kaufman said, referring to a younger moderator. "AIDS was a death sentence. AIDS is no longer a death sentence, and animals, specifically monkeys, played a large role in that."

Kaufman admitted that the useful information isn't yielded from primate studies as often as scientists might like, but it doesn't mean it isn't there.

UW-Madison is currently home to more some 100,000 research animals, making it the second-largest center for research of its kind in the country, WISC-TV reported.