Activists Ask Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals to Sever Ties with British Firm Huntingdon Life Sciences Over Its Use and Abuse of Laboratory Animals

Ah yes, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the most cruel company on Earth. Here are just a few things that they are guilty of:

In a show called "It's a dog's life (see below for link to it)" it shows HLS workers punching beagle puppies in the face, shaking them violently and throwing them against walls.

Four subsequent investigations uncovered horrors in the way regular HLS staffers treated the animals, including deliberate cruelty, torture and bestiality.

Animals were also operated on without anesthetic.

In addition, test results were falsified in order to expedite products' time to market of products.

To learn more about the horror and abuse of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) including seeing the actual footage shoot inside see http://www.shac.net/MISC/Inside_HLS.html


Article:

Animal rights struggle reaches Teva

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/754730.html

By Nimrod Halpern

The international battle against British firm Huntingdon Life Sciences over its use of laboratory animals has reached Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals: Members of SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) demonstrated yesterday outside Teva offices in Israel, Belgium and Britain, demanding that Teva sever its relations with HLS, which kills about 500 test subjects each day, or 180,000 annually.

"We demand that Teva immediately sever its relations with HLS and adopt more efficient, safe scientific methods to test materials, which do not involve causing pointless pain and death to animals," said the Israeli branch of SHAC. HLS victims include dogs, cats, monkeys and rabbits.

Huntingdon Life Sciences is the biggest contract testing firm in Europe, according to SHAC.

The movement's goal is to shut down HLS by putting economic pressure on organizations and companies that do business with the animal-testing firm, including banks, investors, clients and suppliers.

So far, over 100 clients have cut their ties with HLS, and its shares have lost most of their value.

The company's owners were forced to infuse money of their own and also to move the company's headquarters from Britain to the United States.

The company's attempt to switch from the London Stock Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange was also disastrous. In a dramatic move, NYSE announced on September 7, 2005, the day HLS shares were to have started trading, that it was suspending trade in the stock, with no set date for resumption. This was the first time in history that NYSE halted trade in a firm's shares based on a public battle against the company. Although NYSE did not explain its move at the time, it is known that animal rights activists were preparing to target the exchange as well.

SHAC was founded in 1999, two years after Britain's Channel 4 television aired deeply disturbing footage in a show called "It's a dog's life." The films, shot in secret, showed HLS workers punching beagle puppies in the face, shaking them violently and throwing them against walls.

Four subsequent investigations uncovered horrors in the way regular HLS staffers treated the animals, including deliberate cruelty, torture and bestiality. Animals were also operated on without anesthetic. In addition, test results were falsified in order to expedite products' time to market of products. Several HLS workers were convicted after these findings, and HLS was slammed with heavy fines.