Activists of all stripes turned out to protest the BIO 2004 conference held in San Francisco California earlier this month. About 33 people were arrested after trying to shut down the meeting, and the animal rights activists had a message for Huntingdon Life Sciences and companies that might do business with it.
According to the Tri-Valley Herald,
A sign nearby proclaimed, “Do business with HLS — Have a blast!!”, referring to laboratory firm Huntingdon Life Sciences, targeted by an international animal-rights campaign. Two East Bay companies — Emeryville’s Chiron Corp. and Pleasanton’s Shaklee Corp. — were bombed last year for having had dealings with HLS . . .
“Don’t think you can do business with HLS and get away with it,” Aaron Zellhoefer, holding one end of the sign, admonished conference attendees Tuesday.
Zellhoefer was part of a group of activists with Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition-San Francisco who in April 2001 occupied the San Francisco offices of Stephens, Inc.
In an amusing twist, Zellhoefer was also one of the youths that Kelly Luker chose to feature in a 1997 article about how older Americans irrationally feared younger people who looked and acted differently with the cut line on a photograph of Zellhoefer and a friend reading, “Dave Chircop (left) and Aaron Zellhoefer say they think that kids are unfairly labeled as lazy or dangerous.”
Sources:
Protesters throng biotech meeting. Josh Richman, Tri-Valley Herald, June 9, 2004.
Kids these days. Kelly Luker, MetroActive, 1997.
Protestors seize financial district offices. Press Release, Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition-San Francisco, 2001.