Animal Rights Activists to Protest Testing Labs in Mayo

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

ACTIVISTS TO PROTEST CHARLES RIVER & OVAGEN ANIMAL TESTING LABORATORIES IN MAYO

WHEN: Saturday 30th March, from 1pm - 3pm, outside Charles River & Ovagen in Carrentrila, Ballina.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

"Activists from the National Animal Rights Association will be travelling from all over the country to protest the Charles River and Ovagen laboratories in Mayo this Saturday" says spokesperson for NARA, Laura Broxson

"Charles River, which is one of the biggest animal testing companies in the world, have two research facilities in 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." she continued

“These animal testing laboratories are one of the biggest bloodstains on our country”

“They have been in operation since 1976, then known as “Biological Laboratories Europe”. They were bought over by Charles River in 2002.”

“For 37years, 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 or fear. Anyone who can do this to an animal a seriously sick individual. Our campaign will not end until this barbarity is stopped.” she said

“Although our main focus on the day will be the Charles River laboratory, we will also be targeting the “Ovagen” plant, which is located beside it.

Ovagen 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 anyone could create such suffering and death, all for the sake of profits. Everyone involved in either of these laboratories should be ashamed of themselves.”

“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

INFORMATION WE HAVE RECEIVED ANONYMOUSLY ON CHARLES RIVER LABS:

"Species used in the Ballina Lab: mice, rats, rabbits, dogs, snakes, some horses - but in general, smaller animals.

Species used in Glenamoy Lab: cats, cattle, horses - bigger animals in general.

Once mice and rats go under a certain weight, they are killed. They are supposed to be “humanely euthanized” but most of the time staff just break their necks.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of cats are killed every year in clinical trials. The trials are repeated every 6 weeks with new cats. By the end of each trial, the cats are so weak and in so much pain, they can’t even stand up. They are then killed.

A lot of lost/stolen dogs and other animals end up in the Charles River laboratories. Apparently dog wardens are secretly responsible for this, and are being paid to do so. There was an incident in 2008/2009 in which a dog was taken, put in local pound, and then given to the Charles River lab in Ballina. The owner of the dog managed to discover this, and had to call the Gardai to help get the dog back.

Veterinarians run both labs, and are now directors. They receive huge payments from pharmaceutical companies for tests. This is one of the biggest kept secrets at Charles River.

Every tueday - blood is taken from horses, and then transported all around the country - particularly to hospitals. The purpose for this is currently unknown.

Secrecy inherent when it comes to working at Charles River - most staff are not allowed mix with eachother or know the details of what their colleagues' jobs entail.

Most of the activity (transport of animals, experiments etc) at both laboratories happen at night - the reason for this is for maximum secrecy."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

279,609 animals were experimented on in Irish laboratories in 2010.

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.