GSK and AstraZenca Threaten to Pull Investments from Great Britain

The Times (London) is reporting today that in a private meeting with Tony Blair the CEOs of GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca threatened to pull new investments from Great Britain unless the country does something about extremist acts by animal rights activists.

According to The Times, GSK alone spends 3 million pounds a day in Great Britain and told Blair that it would not “spend another pound” until the government demonstrated it had a more effective strategy for dealing with the extremists.

AstraZeneca chief Tom McKillop told The Times,

At regular meetings with ministers, we have said that we cannot continue to function unless you deal with the animal rights issue. The implications economically are desperately serious.

Source:

Drug giants’ threat on animal terrorism. Ingrid Mansell, The Times (London), September 9, 2004.