Chandler
Residents Get a Grim Look at
Covance's Cruel Treatment of
Animals
Local
Physician Deborah Wilson
and PCRM Release DVD
to 23,000 Registered
Voters
CHANDLER, Ariz.—Chandler
residents will be able to
see for themselves what happens
inside laboratories run by
Covance. The Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine
(PCRM) mailed DVDs featuring
undercover video footage
of animal abuse at Covance
facilities to more than 23,000
registered voters in Chandler.
PCRM member Deborah Wilson,
M.D., a Valley gynecologist
and laparoscopic surgeon,
introduces the video and
urges viewers to “Say
no to Covance.”
PCRM’s DVD features
undercover video footage of
animal abuse by Covance employees
inside two Covance testing
facilities: one in Vienna,
Va., and the other in Munster,
Germany. Among the animal abuse
shown: a monkey whose arm appears
to have been broken while struggling
to avoid the technician who
was about to inflict agonizing
test procedures on the monkey;
workers striking and choking
monkeys who are struggling
to escape from their grip;
workers screaming curses at
frightened monkeys; small monkeys
having large tubes forced up
their nostrils and down into
their stomach; and workers
draining blood from monkeys
who had been killed.
“Covance abuses animals
in horrific ways,” says
Mindy Kursban, Esq., PCRM’s
executive director. “We
believe Chandler residents
have a right to know what Covance
will be doing in their neighborhood
if the City Council allows
this facility to be built.
The City Council and residents
have an opportunity to stop
this. No animal should die
to test a new ingredient for
lipstick.”
Covance, which tests a variety
of toxic substances, including
pesticides, cosmetic ingredients,
and food additives, on monkeys,
dogs, cats, and other animals,
is seeking approval from the
Chandler City Council to build
a huge new animal experimentation
facility on a 38-acre site
on Price Road. This facility
will likely include an incinerator
to dispose of toxic animal
carcasses. Although Covance
sometimes portrays itself as
a drug development laboratory,
the company actually performs
toxicity testing on contract.
More than 1,300 Chandler residents
have signed statements of opposition
to the Covance facility,
in part because the federal
government recently fined Covance
for violating the Animal Welfare
Act. Last month, PCRM
uncovered U.S. Department of
Agriculture inspection reports
from last year showing violations
of the Animal Welfare Act at
five other Covance facilities
around the country.
For
more information about PCRM’s
DVD or an interview with
Dr. Wilson or Ms. Kursban,
contact Patrick Sullivan
at 202-686-2210, ext. 311,
or psullivan@pcrm.org.
Founded in 1985, the Physicians
Committee for Responsible
Medicine is a nonprofit
health organization that
promotes preventive medicine,
especially good nutrition.
PCRM also conducts clinical
research studies, opposes
unethical human experimentation,
and promotes alternatives
to animal research.
###
Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.,
Ste. 400, Washington, DC 20016
Phone: 202-686-2210 | E-mail: pcrm@pcrm.org |
