Virginia

From April 2004 to March 2005 a PETA investigator worked undercover at a Covance Pty Ltd primate lab in Virginia. She recorded gratuitous despicable acts by employees of Covance toward monkeys which were kept, anyway, under appalling physical restriction and in situations of apparently permanent sensory deprivation. To see this film makes you think that Covance must have designed its experimental environment to maximise the suffering of the animals that contributed to its revenues which, in 2003 were $940 million and its global operations in 18 countries with more than 6,500 employees worldwide, including in Australia.

An added stress is the loud hard music that constantly plays in the laboratory during these films.

Covance law-suit against PETA fails

In 2005, Covance sued PETA after the videotape of the Vienna facility surfaced. The lawsuit charged PETA with fraud, violation of employee contract and conspiracy to harm the company's business. Covance later dropped the suit.

You can read about recent developments in the dispute between Covance and PETAhere. It is a very interesting site.

See here for more about PETA.

Covance Pty Ltd

At its New South Wales, Australia site, the US and global company, Covance describes itself as "a leading supplier of drug development services to the biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical industries from non-clinical services through all phases of clinical development and commercialization. Covance’s cornerstone is industry-leading scientific expertise. This expertise, combined with an unparalleled breadth and depth of global development capabilities and an ongoing commitment to innovating processes and data systems, uniquely position Covance to provide service solutions which help clients reduce the cost and risk of drug development, and achieve market potential of their medical therapies.

So much money, so little grace

Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, Covance (NYSE: CVD) is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with 2003 net revenues of $940 million, global operations in 18 countries, and more than 6,500 employees worldwide. For more information visit the Covance website at www.covance.com

With so much money and expertise, it appears however that Covance is a cover for utterly depraved behaviour by humans towards experimental animals, as this footage, among the most shocking that I have ever seen, shows. I mean, this organisation boasts of its power and money. It had a choice. Why did it choose this?

It is enough to make you wish you believed in some kind of moral and powerful God, if only to be able to pray to rid us of this culture which benights the human race and to restore these poor creatures to the freedom and the chance of happiness we all deserve.