20 February 2002
Cambridge denied new animal testing lab
For the second time a request from the University of Cambridge to build a new animal testing laboratory on the outskirts of the city has been denied by the local development committee. The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty group has campaigned vigorously against the facility, and the university's first application was denied in January 2001.

The university’s greatest concern over this second refusal is the deeply devastating effect the decision will have on the search for the alleviation of devastating disorders, and potentially on the pharmaceutical industry in the country.

There is an apparent revival in animal rights campaigners and the group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty has targeted laboratories, banks and a supermarket chain in a campaign of violence. The group dedicated itself to closing down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a company involved in drug development and testing chemicals used in industry, agriculture and food production.

At the time of the first refusal of Cambridge University’s application, Richard Clothier, a cellular toxicologist at the University of Nottingham, who is also director of the FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments), voiced his concerns that the UK should be prepared for more animal rights protests. Also at that time, draft report on animal experimentation was being drawn up and was on the verge of allowing a dramatic increase in the number of experiments carried out on animals, which was another matter of concern.

When Cambridge University’s first application for a new animal testing laboratory were denied, even the planning director for South Cambridgeshire District Council claimed that the shelving of the animal laboratory plans in Cambridge came as a surprise. Research is responsible for what is known as the ‘Cambridge phenomenon’, which the government wishes to build on.

BioMed Net
6 February 2002