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News Release 30th January 2004ANIMAL RIGHTS TERRORISTSYesterday (Thursday) in the House of Commons, Michael Fabricant called for tougher action against animal rights terrorists following recent action taken against one of his constituents. He asked The Leader of the House, Peter Hain:- "May we have a debate on the question of - as I call them - animal rights terrorists? The Leader of the House will be aware that, recently, investment in a Cambridge Laboratory was halted because of threats from so-called animal rights activists, but he may not be aware that other investment companies - biotechnological companies from Japan - have chosen to invest in continental Europe instead of in the United Kingdom because of the threat from animal rights terrorists. "One of my constituents runs a guinea pig farm for medical research which is controlled by the Home Office to protect the animals and to ensure the guinea pigs are bred and kept humanely. He has written to me saying: 'Before New Years Eve the activists smashed all the downstairs windows of my 86 year old father's home whilst he was in the house, and then threw red paint bombs through the smashed windows . . . he was petrified . . . between Christmas and New Year they were also at my niece's house . . . and they turned off all her water and then concreted the stop cock so she could not get it back on.' "The whole House will agree that those animal rights terrorists must be controlled, so may we have a debate on the issue? Perhaps the Home Secretary could designate those people as terrorists, so that organisations for which I have the greatest respect, such as the Security Service, can be utilised to try to restrain their activities." The Rt Hon Peter Hain answered: "The honourable Gentleman raises a very important point. It is certainly extremely serious that the construction and opening of that laboratory was prevented due to the threat of what, as he rightly says, cannot be described other than as terrorism. Many of us have a lot of sympathy with animal rights movements and support them. We want proper protection for animals and an end to cruelty, but to take things to such an extent and to terrorise scientists, doctors and others involved is wholly unacceptable. The hon. Gentleman is right and I know that the House will share his sympathies." Michael Fabricant now says: "The irony is that if this particular guinea pig farm is closed, laboratories will import these guinea pigs from France where there are no inspections whatsoever to ensure that they are protected against cruelty. I oppose the testing on animals for cosmetics and other non-medical experiments. I also oppose the testing on animals for medical research when that could be avoided by using other techniques. But sadly some medical research must be conducted on animals. I just wonder about the hypocrisy of those animal rights terrorists who persecute my constituents yet have been vaccinated against polio and other diseases when this is a product of animal research. The Government must now stop talking about taking action and start doing it. They could begin with providing extra finding for the Staffordshire Police whose duty it is to protect my constituents". |
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