AR-News: (U.K.) piecemeal legislation against activists

[Mary Finelli]

ANIMAL ACTIVISTS IN OXFORD
Campaigners Target Animal House While Gov't Offers New Piecemeal Legislation
The Scientist, Robert Walgate, May 17, 2004

complete article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040517/04


Animal rights campaigners who halted Cambridge plans to build a primate 
research center have succeeded in temporarily closing the Oxford Department 
of Pharmacology this past weekend, for fear of invasion by demonstrators 
against the university's new animal house, under construction nearby, Oxford 
pharmacologist Les Iversen told The Scientist.

“We are now receiving the full brunt of the victorious group that managed 
what they consider a triumph in Cambridge,” said Iversen. “There are 
demonstrations every 3 or 4 days. They are small and peaceful, but 
meanwhile, behind the scenes, they are targeting vulnerable groups, like in 
this case the building contractors—their vehicles have been attacked, tires 
slashed, paint poured.”

“There's already a substantial drain on police resources in Oxford; and 
someone is going to have to pay for all the extra security we are going to 
have to put in place; and departments such as mine have to be closed down 
for days at a time,” Iversen said.

Scientists in the United Kingdom have long called for tougher laws to 
protect them against violence and intimidation by animal rights groups. 
Science minister Lord Sainsbury told the House of Commons Select Committee 
on Science and Technology on Wednesday (May 11) that the government will 
introduce further legislation to control animal rights protests against 
licensed animal research, but will not do so in a single act, but by 
piecemeal attachments to existing law.

The pharmaceutical industry and the Research Defence Society—a group that 
promotes the benefits of animal experiments—expressed immediate dismay.

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