Animal-Rights Protests Get Personal

I read this article and I think that Pharmaceutical companies R&D should
perform their testing on the animal rights activists since these people
want to bully firms into not testing the animals.
I know that if the choice was between me and lab rat, I rather the lab
rat try the drug first. I got more to live for.

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Animal-Rights Protests Get Personal

Some animal-rights activists have stepped-up their protests, targeting
pharmaceutical companies-and, in a few cases, their employees-in an
ongoing campaign to end the use of animals in biomedical research.

As animal-rights activists have stepped-up their efforts to protest
animal testing, even a few Pfizer colleagues have felt the effects. A
small number of colleagues have received e-mails and letters, according
to Judy MacArthur Clark, who chairs the Pfizer Animal Care and Welfare
Board, and there have been a handful of isolated incidents in which
activists protested outside colleagues' homes.

"Thankfully, no one has been hurt or threatened with harm," she said.
"Nonetheless, we are taking these incidents very seriously. Colleagues
have every reason to be concerned that these groups are disrupting both
their business lives and their personal lives."

Despite the necessity for animal studies in R&D to develop life-saving
medicines, animal-rights groups insist that all animal testing be
stopped, MacArthur Clark said.

"We provide humane care for all laboratory animals and insist on a
compassionate approach to their use," she said. "Our facilities,
personnel and practices meet or exceed strict regulations protecting
animals. We work hard to refine our procedures so that they are
minimally invasive, to reduce the number of animals used in studies, and
to replace animal studies with other technologies wherever possible."

Many activists have singled out Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a
contract research organization (CRO) which serves the pharmaceutical,
biochemical, veterinary and food industries. Accusing HLS of animal
cruelty, the activists recently expanded their protests to include major
firms who they believe are clients of HLS. During the week of August 14,
protesters picketed and chanted outside the Washington, D.C. offices of
several pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer.

"The animal-rights groups involved in these demonstrations are
specifically attacking us for using contract research organizations
which they are determined to undermine," MacArthur Clark said. "What
they do not realize is that we carefully audit all CROs before placing
studies with them, and our veterinarians ensure that this audit covers
the standards of care and welfare in addition to the quality of
operation. We are confident that the CROs we use practice similar high
standards of care and welfare as ourselves."

John Theriault, Pfizer's vice president of Global Security, explained
that, while recent protests aimed at Pfizer have not been violent or
gone beyond the legal bounds of free speech, some activists have been
known to be physically aggressive in the past.

"As a result, we are monitoring activities directed at Pfizer and our
colleagues, and we are in regular contact with law-enforcement
authorities," Theriault said. "Our objectives are to protect colleagues
by raising their awareness of the problem, providing guidance on how to
deal with protesters if they encounter them, and ensuring that law
enforcement takes prompt and decisive actions if protests turn violent."