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Work restarts on UK animal test site after protests

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 11:26 CST

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Building work restarted on Wednesday on Oxford University's 20 million pound animal testing centre after a 16 month hiatus caused by animal rights protests.

Work was suspended in July 2004 when building contractor Montpellier Group pulled out in the face of a persistent campaign by animal rights group SPEAK Campaigns.

On Wednesday, the university refused to name the new contractor, the expected new completion date or give any details of the beefed-up security arrangements.

"The contractors are being kept secret ... and we have had the police very closely involved," the university's registrar David Holmes told reporters. "I am afraid I can't comment on anything about the security arrangements or costs."

But SPEAK spokesman Robert Cogswell vowed the campaign would continue.

"More than ever we will be fighting the university and the building contractor every step of the way," he told Reuters.

"We expect building to continue for the next eight months or so and with our contacts in the industry I do not believe they can keep the name of the contractor secret for that long," he added.

He said the two lorries that entered the site on Wednesday bore no name markings.

The university obtained an injunction a year ago limiting protests to one afternoon a week and not within 100 metres (yards) of the site.

SPEAK, which says it will abide by the law, believes it is immoral to conduct medical experiments on animals in the 21st century and maintains that the new facility is an extension of existing animal laboratories.

But Holmes insisted that the new laboratory, the first phase of which should have been opened by this time last year, was an updating and replacement for and not an extension of several current facilities scattered around the university.

"Completing the project will be good for animal welfare, good for medical research and good for the treatment of life-threatening conditions the world over," he told a news conference.

He said the university used very few primates in its experiments, concentrating mainly on rodents and goldfish.

News of the restart of building work was welcomed by Philip Wright of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

"This is excellent news for anyone in Britain who either has a disease or is connected with someone who has," he said.

Source: REUTERS

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