Activists to return to Charles River animal testing laboratories

national | animal rights | press release Thursday November 19, 2009 20:43 by Laura Broxson - National Animal Rights Association naracampaigns at gmail dot com PO Box 11019, Dublin 2

***NATIONAL ANIMAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE***

ACTIVISTS TO RETURN TO CHARLES RIVER ANIMAL TESTING LABORATORIES

WHEN: Tuesday 24th Nov. First protest from 12noon - 2.30pm outside Charles River in Carrentrila, Ballina. Second protest outside Charles River in Glenamoy, from 4pm - 6pm approx.

Contact N.A.R.A. spokesperson: Laura Broxson - 086 8729 444 - www.naracampaigns.org

2 months after they organised Ireland’s first ever protests outside these laboratories, activists from the National Animal Rights Association are returning, as promised. They will be joined by other groups this time, such as Donegal Veg and Animal Rights Northern Ireland, as well as activists travelling all the way from the U.K.

“These animal testing laboratories are one of the biggest bloodstains on our country” says spokesperson for NARA, Laura Broxson

“They have been in operation since 1976, then known as “Biological Laboratories Europe”. In 2002, then-owner Leonard Moran, sold the facilities to the company “Charles River”, for 28million euro.”

“For almost 34years, animals have been bred, experimented on, abused, sold, and killed here - every single day. In their short lives, they never experienced a moment without pain and fear. Anyone who can do this to an animal a seriously sick individual. Animal abusers will not be tolerated, and our campaign will not end until this barbarity is stopped.” she said

“Although our main focus on the day will be the Charles River labs, we will also be targeting the “Ovagen” plant, which is located beside the laboratory in Ballina. Ovagen, which was also developed by Leonard Moran, is another animal testing laboratory.

They breed “germ free” chickens, who produce “germ free” eggs - an ingredient used in vaccines. The chickens in this plant aren’t even allowed to lay eggs normally. They are put in an isolation box, and the eggs are removed from them by caesarean operation. So we certainly won’t be ignoring this disgusting company on the day.”

“It’s horrifying to think how one person can create such suffering and death, all for the sake of profits. Anyone involved in any of these laboratories has blood on their hands, and should have to answer for what they have done.”

“If every person in Ireland was allowed to see what goes on behind the closed doors of these laboratories, they would be shut down immediately.” she added

*Charles River Laboratories, which is one of the biggest animal testing companies in the world, have two research facilities in Ireland. They are located in: Carrentrila, Ballina, Co. Mayo and Glenamoy, Co. Mayo.

They are a contract testing business, which means they will test anything, on any animal, for a price. They conduct painful, live experiments on animals for the Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, Medical Device, Biotechnology and Food Industries in Ireland.

Thousands of animals are experimented on in these labs every year. Their torturous lives are full of pain, fear, suffering and misery. Any animal that manages to survive an experiment, is killed shortly afterwards.*

FACTS:

Vivisection is the live experimentation and dissection of animals.

112, 835 animals were experimented on last year in Irish laboratories.

Although a lot of animal testing goes on in colleges and universities, there are 9 independent, commercial laboratories in this country.

Animal research has been shown time and again to hold back medical progress for people. Here are just a few examples:

Arthritis painkiller Vioxx, which was withdrawn in 2004, caused over 140,000 strokes and heart attacks (almost 60,000 fatal), even though it appeared safe when tested on animals.

In the 1980s, thousands of people were given HIV-contaminated blood, which was deemed safe as it did not affect chimpanzees (as chimpanzees are essentially immune to HIV).

Blood transfusions were delayed by 200 years and corneal transplants delayed by 90 years, as a result of animal studies.

22 drugs to treat spinal cord damage were developed on animals - all failed when applied to humans.

The notoriously dangerous drugs thalidomide and DES were tested in animals and released for human use. Tens of thousands suffered and/or died as a result.

In 2006, TGN1412, a new drug for leukaemia, cancer, multiple sclerosis and arthritis, caused disastrous side effects in the first human volunteers - even though it had passed tests on monkeys who were given doses 500 times greater than those given to the volunteers.

Rats and mice are the animals primarily used in cancer research. They never get carcinomas, the human form of cancer, which affects membranes (e.g. lung cancer). Their sarcomas affect bone and connecting tissue: the two cannot be compared.

Even a former director of Huntingdon Life Sciences (which is one of Europe’s largest animal testing facilities) admitted that animal tests only correctly predict effects in humans 5-25% of the time. Compare that to the fact that human cell culture tests have proven to be 80% accurate.