FW:Animal testing protest extends to Asia

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Animal testing protest extends to Asia

By David Firn and Patrick Jenkins

Published: June 5 2002 5:00 | Last Updated: June 5

2002 5:00

 

British animal rights activists have taken their

campaigning to Asia, in a continued attempt to shut

down the operations of Huntingdon Life Sciences, the

drug testing company.

 

Protesters at Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac)

have infiltrated three Japanese research universities,

accumulating video footage of experiments on dogs and

primates.

 

" The aim of this was to embarrass the Japanese

research industry and government because of Japan's

involvement with Huntingdon Life Sciences, " Shac said.

 

Shac, set up to target HLS's locations in East Anglia,

spawned a US division last year to target the shift of

the company's shareholder base to the US.

 

The protesters' Asia campaign is to be extended to

Taiwan, Korea and India, where HLS also has

operations.

 

HLS delisted from the London Stock Exchange in January

in a move designed to reduce the vulnerability of the

company and its shareholders to attack.

 

It reincorporated as Life Sciences Research, based in

Maryland in the US, where shareholding rules allow the

identities of investors with stakes of less than 5 per

cent to remain secret.

 

But only weeks before HLS was subsumed into its new

parent, Stephens Inc, its main financial backer,

dropped its equity and debt support following

intensified animal rights activism that culminated in

the New York home of the bank's president being

vandalised. HLS has also so far failed to secure its

planned US listing.

 

The protesters' move into Asia comes as a full public

inquiry into Cambridge University's proposals to build

a controversial animal research centre has been

ordered by the local council.

 

The inquiry, ordered by South Cambridgeshire District

Council, will begin in November. It follows an appeal

by the university against the rejection of a planning

application for the centre in February.

 

News of the inquiry comes amid controversy about the

university's animal research activities, ignited 10

days ago by video footage of its experiments. The

British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection said an

investigation had shown the university carried out

invasive brain experiments on monkeys without the

proper authorisation.

 

Cambridgeshire police had opposed construction of the

new site, in Girton on the outskirts of the city,

saying it would become a focus for protests by animal

rights campaigners.

 

The county's resources have already been stretched by

policing protests against HLS. The police said

protecting researchers at a new centre could lead to

cuts elsewhere unless extra resources were made

available.

 

Policing protests against the animal testing company

cost the authority £2m in 2000, about 2 per cent of

its annual budget.

 

& copy; Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2002.

 

 

 

 

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