AP News, September 1st, 2007
Activists claimed to have sabotaged health care products in Britain and France in a long-running and often violent campaign against an animal-testing firm, police said Friday.
A British group called Animal Rights Militia said it had contaminated products made by the Swiss-based pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG because of its alleged links with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that tests medical products on animals.
Novartis said thousands of tubes of the popular Savlon brand antiseptic cream had been recalled from stores in Britain as a precaution, but it had not found any evidence of tampering.
In France, CIBA Vision, a branch of Novartis, said it had been warned of "a malicious act" causing damage to 85 bottles of the SOLO-Care Aqua solution between Aug. 25-27 and ordered a recall of the product from French stores. The company said it was taking the threat "very seriously."
Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers said the country's domestic extremism unit was investigating the threats, posted anonymously on the Web site of the U.S. Animal Liberation Front magazine BiteBack.
"We don't want to kill living beings like Novartis, but the side effects and the inevitable hospital stay will give people an idea of what Novartis pays for inside Huntingdon Life Sciences," said the statement posted on the Internet Tuesday.
In March, three British animal rights activists were jailed for prison terms ranging from 15 months to four years for intimidating employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences and other companies.
Prosecutors said the activists _ from Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, or SHAC _ had invaded offices across the country belonging to companies that either supplied or dealt with the firm.
In 2001, masked men with baseball bats attacked the manager of Huntingdon Life Sciences at his home. Activists were also credited with forcing the company to delist from the London Stock Exchange after intimidating shareholders.
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Associated Press Writer Antonio Oliveira in Paris contributed to this report.
