PETA Europe Names Judge In Laboratory Case ‘Person Of The Year’
Judge Refused to Suppress Video Footage Showing Monkey Abuse in Covance Laboratory
For Immediate Release:
30 December 2005
Contact:
Yvonne Taylor 020 7357 9229, ext. 405
London – For handing down a ruling that allowed the world to see what goes on inside the laboratories of the world’s largest animal-testing company, His Honour Judge Peter Langan has been named PETA Europe’s “Person of the Year”.
After an investigator from PETA US documented that workers at a Vienna, Virginia, Covance laboratory were striking, choking, taunting and deliberately tormenting terrified monkeys, Covance sought an injunction to prevent PETA Europe from showing the video footage. Langan dismissed the case, saying the arguments against granting an interim injunction were “cumulative” and “overwhelming”. PETA Europe was also awarded £50,000 in court costs.
After watching the video footage, Langan commented on the “rough manner in which the animals [are] handled and the bleakness of the surroundings in which they are kept”, which he said, “cry out for explanation”. The video footage also shows multiple violations of the US Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which PETA US has detailed in its 272-page complaint to the US Department of Agriculture.
Among the violations that PETA US documented at the laboratory were that animals with broken limbs were deprived of veterinary care, sick monkeys were jammed into restraint tubes, baby monkeys suffered daily nose bleeds that were caused by over-sized dosing tubes, and Covance failed to provide the monkeys with socialization and enrichment, which are required by the AWA. Covance publicly claims to treat the animals with “care and respect”. In comparing that claim with the reality exposed by PETA US’ investigation, Langan stated it “is a comparison between two different worlds”. His Honour went on to say that to the extent that Covance “has fostered a misleading impression, PETA Europe is entitled to correct it publicly. … [I]n this case the balance comes down in favour of the truth being told. … As there should be ‘truth in advertising’, so there should be truth in publicity. The public should not be misled”.
The court ruling means the public and the media have the right to see how Covance systematically abuses monkeys.
“Judge Langan refused to allow Covance to hide its despicable treatment of animals from the public”, says PETA Europe Managing Director Ingrid E. Newkirk. “Thanks to him, more people know what goes on behind laboratories’ closed doors, which is the first step to shutting these hellholes down.”
For more information about PETA US’ investigation into Covance, please visit CovanceCruelty.co.uk.
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