Blair pledges personal support to animal testing and condemns extremists
Mr Blair condemned the “appalling” activities of a criminal minority and re-affirmed his support for the medical research industry.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Blair said he planned, in a rare move for any minister, to sign a petition supporting animal testing.
The People’s Petition in support of animal testing in Britain, which has attracted almost 14,000 signatures so far, describes itself as “giving a voice to the silent majority” of people in favour of properly regulated medical research.
He would also take whatever measures were necessary to keep extremists at bay.
Mr Blair revealed that the government was to consult on plans to keep shareholders’ names secret to protect the scientists and companies which had saved hundreds of millions of lives.
The proposal comes after extremists threatened shareholders in drugs company GlaxoSmithKline — including some in Ireland — would have their names published on the internet unless they dumped their shares.
The prime minister’s intervention also follows the imprisonment on Thursday of four people who ran a six-year hate campaign against the owners of a guinea pig farm, culminating in the theft of a pensioner’s body from her grave.
The four were jailed for up to 12 years last week for their part in a campaign against the son-in-law of 82-year-old Gladys Hammond. Her body was only recovered last month after one of those jailed revealed where it had been hidden.
In his article, Mr Blair wrote: “The appalling details of the campaign of intimidation — which include grave robbing — show the depths to which the animal extremists are prepared to stoop.
“The letter-writing campaign just launched against GlaxoSmithKline shareholders shows why we must step up efforts to support and protect individuals and companies engaged in life-saving medical research.”
Mr Blair said a planned Company Law Reform Bill would allow directors to keep their home addresses private to protect them from intimidation.
