Shareholders threatened by animal rights group

IRISH shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), who received a letter from an animal rights group demanding they sell their shares, have been advised to report the matter to the gardaí.

A statement issued yesterday by the pharmaceutical company also advised shareholders not to respond to the Campaign Against Huntingdon Life Sciences (CAHLS) letter or access the email address provided.

The animal rights’ group is targeting GSK because of the company’s involvement with Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), a British contract animal-testing company. HLS is the largest such commercial operation in Europe, conducting tests on around 75,000 animals every year, mainly rodents but also fish, birds, rabbits, sheep, cows, pigs and dogs.

Yesterday, GSK obtained an High Court injunction against CAHLS prohibiting anyone acting in connection with the letter sent out on May 1 from engaging in further harassment against any British or Irish GSK shareholders, including publicising their details on a website.

CAHLS had threatened to name and shame shareholders on the web, warning: “Should you choose not to sell your shares within the next 14 days, your details will be published”.

A statement from GSK said: “Any person found in breach of the injunction could face prosecution for contempt of court which is an imprisonable offence.”

British police are conducting a criminal investigation into the matter.

The company advised shareholders, wishing to protect their privacy, to either transfer their shares, free of charge, into the GSK Corporate Nominee Service (www.gsk.com), details of which are available from the Company’s Registrars, Lloyds TSB Registrars (0044 870 600 3991) or contact their broker to hold their shares in a nominee account. A nominee account is an anonymous account.

GSK also defended its use of HLS, insisting: “For ethical, regulatory and scientific reasons, research using animals remains a small but vital part of the research and development of new medicines and vaccines.”

The company condemned the campaign against HLS and its business partners. HLS has been under intense financial pressure since 1999, when a group of British animal rights activists set up Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), an international campaign to close the company. The campaign was started after film shot secretly inside HLS in 1997 and shown on British television revealed staff punching and taunting the animals in their care.

The husband of former Justice Minister Nora Owen was among a number of Irish people with shares in GSK to receive the CAHLS letter.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mrs Owen said her husband received a letter on Tuesday. She was conscious of the possibility that those behind it could now call to her home.

She said the drugs company had advised her to inform the gardaí and she would now be doing that.