July 19, 2004

scientists respond to news of new Oxford animal centre setback

Reactions to the news that a building firm are pulling out of a new animal research centre contract in Oxford.

Dr Simon Festing of the Association of Medical Research Charities, said:

“This decision will set alarm bells ringing for all those involved in medical research. Unless we see urgent action from the Government, the prize of the UK staying a world leader in developing new medicines could slip through its fingers.”

Professor Tipu Aziz, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Oxford University, said:

“Animal rights terrorism is the most immediate threat to the British population as I perceive it, although it is not treated as such. Until animal rights extremists are treated as terrorists they will hold hostage the future of British public health. One thing they will hold up is the development of future treatments for alzhiemers, and this is only in my field. Within medicine there are endless disease treatments which will not be developed without animal research. The British Government and people should not allow medical progress to be held up by these activities. The scientists who carry out this research are people who have uppermost in their minds the benefits to humankind.”

Professor Nancy Rothwell, Professor of Neuroscience, University of Manchester, said:

“If the reason for the termination of the contract is due to animal right extremism then it is outrageous that terrosism is manipulating legal activities in the UK.”

Robin Lovell Badge, Head of Genetics at MRC’s National Institute for Animal Research, said:

“It is vital that animals used for research are maintained in the best possible facilities, both for the sake of the animals and for the research. It is likely that the animals will have superior conditions, and therefore better lives, in a new building than dispersed among several older buildings. Moreover, there will be efficiencies of scale that are likely to lead to an overall reduction in numbers of animals required. On both counts it seems illogical to oppose the construction of the new facility in Oxford.”

Mark Matfield, Director of the Research Defence Society, said:

“Forcing contractors to quit has been a standard animal rights tactic for a couple of years now and places like HLS and Oxford have learned how to deal with it. The building of the Oxford animal facility is continuing. This is hardly the killer blow the animal rights extremists thought it would be.

“On the one hand you have to have sympathy for companies like Montpellier who are subject to these vicious campaigns, but on the other hand, you do wish they had the guts and tenacity that HLS and Oxford certainly have.

“What has happened to Montpellier is coercion and blackmail – its a simple as that. If the law and law enforcement is not strong enough to project companies form these criminal offences, then the law and its enforcement need to be made stronger.”

Richard Ley, spokesman for ABPI (Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry), said:

“It is truly appalling that the illegal activities of a small band of people conducting a campaign of intimidation, harassment and terrorism can prevent a company from working on a facility that will bring great benefit to people,”

“This announcement reinforces the need for the Government to introduce a single piece of legislation to address the issue of animal terrorism. Animal research is a vital part of the discovery process for a new medicine, and facilities for animal welfare in the UK are second to none.”