PETA calls on Eli Lilly to explain shift of animal testing to China, eastern Europe

[Guest guest]

Group Concerned That Lilly May Be Trying to Avoid U.S. Animal Welfare Laws

November 13, 2006

 

Indianapolis — A PETA member has filed a shareholder resolution on behalf of

PETA calling on pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to justify why the company is

increasingly exporting its animal testing to countries with no or poor animal

welfare standards. The resolution also asks that Lilly assure stockholders that

these overseas laboratories—which, according to a January 2006 report in

Business Week magazine, are located in China, India, and Eastern Europe—are,

at the very least, complying with animal welfare standards mandated by the U.S.

government.

 

A recent article in Forbes magazine discussed Lilly’s outsourcing to China,

where " scientists are cheap, lab animals plentiful, and pesky protesters held at

bay. " The article also cited a pharmaceutical industry executive who " admits

that Chinese testing companies lack quality control and high standards on

treatment. " Relocating research to a region with non-existent or weak animal

welfare standards is in direct conflict with Lilly’s stated commitment to

reducing, refining, and replacing its use of animals.

 

Last year, following an undercover investigation of Covance—a Princeton,

N.J.-based contract laboratory used by Lilly, where workers were seen striking

and choking monkeys who did not receive any medical attention for severe

injuries—PETA submitted a resolution calling on Lilly to hold its contract

laboratories to the standards outlined in the company’s animal welfare policy.

The measure received enough votes for PETA to resubmit the same resolution again

this year.

 

" If Lilly was oblivious to the rampant abuse going on at a laboratory that it

uses here in the U.S., how will the company guarantee that animals aren’t

being cruelly treated at laboratories in China? " asks PETA Senior Vice President

Mary Beth Sweetland. " Shareholders deserve an explanation for this move and a

guarantee that research will be held to U.S. standards, at the very least. "

 

A copy of PETA’s shareholder resolution is available upon request.

 

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=9202