Subject:

Salutation:

I am concerned about the welfare of animals used in the development of your products. I understand that both AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline severed ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) after an investigation exposed routine animal abuse inside the research facility. Your good faith in Huntingdon's promise to "clean up its act" led you to renew your contract. Sadly, abuse remains the norm at HLS. As recently as 2008, a published report about primate trafficking across South America and Asia described wild-caught monkeys squashed in cages for 30-hour treks to Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire. Inside the primate unit, an undercover worker recorded animals in filthy cages who "went crazy," gnawing fingers and toes to the bone. One primate was tube fed after self-inflicted wounds left her face in shreds. The investigator counted 217 monkeys killed in just five studies for customers such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. I respectfully ask you to re-join the global list of customers, suppliers and financiers who dropped HLS after learning about the lab's habitual abuse, falsification of test data, sloppy protocol, and employee misconduct. Evidence from seven investigations over 12 years has exposed Huntingdon for multiple breaches of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act, the arrest of workers on animal cruelty charges, more than 520 infringements of Good Laboratory Practice in England, and a $50,000 payoff to the U.S. Agriculture Department for misstated records and animal welfare violations. In 2005, two former HLS workers testified that animals were insufficiently anesthetized before invasive procedures, such as extraction of bone marrow from the chest bone. Workers transferred blood into the wrong tubes. One "would go in and out about five times with the same needle, not hitting the vein," the past employee maintained. "I saw co-workers grab [dogs] by the scruff, shout and swear at them, swing them by the scruff and slap them." Many labs now meet testing criterion with non-animal methods that yield data more relevant to human health and safety. HLS, on the other hand, abuses animals for invalid and redundant experiments. I urge you to permanently terminate all business with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Thank you for your valuable time and consideration. Sincerely, <YOUR FIRST and LAST NAME> <YOUR ADDRESS <YOUR COUNTRY>