Biotechnology Industry Organization president Carl Feldbaum sent a letter to U.S. President George Bush in February seeking government help in curbing the growing level of animal rights terrorism in the United States. Feldbaum’s letter read,
In support of your Administration’s commitment to fight all forms of terrorism, we strongly urge you to provide federal law enforcement with the necessary legal tools and financial support to stem the growing wave of terrorist violence — led by animal rights and environmental activists — against the U.S. biotechnology industry. Since spring of 2003, a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have come under attack from these eco-terrorists. Their campaigns, aided by the improved technology of the Internet, have gone well beyond harassment of scientists and corporate executives. Animal rights terrorists have engaged in bombings of research facilities, harassment of the children of biotech executives in their schools, and vandalism of personal property. Their campaign against biotechnology companies is strategic, specific, unrelenting and directed toward delivering economic, and sometimes physical, damage to companies engaged in innovation for life-threatening diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis. BIO believes that it is imperative for the Administration and Congress to take steps necessary to halt these activities.
Source:
Animal rights ‘terror’ rattles biotechs’ cage. Daniel S. Levine, San Francisco Business Times, February 9, 2004.