Covance
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Covance Inc. (NYSE: [CVD]
Under the name Covance Research Products Inc. (CRP), based in Denver, Pennsylvania, the company also deals in the import and sale of laboratory animals. It is the single largest importer of primates in the U.S. and the world's largest breeder of laboratory dogs. It owns two dog-breeding facilities, two primate centers and a rabbit-breeding facility.
The company has been the subject of controversy following allegations of primate abuse in its laboratories in Germany and the United States, and in connection with a potential outbreak of the Ebola virus.
Ebola virus
In November 1989 at the Hazleton (Covance) Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia, lab monkeys were found to have carried Ebola virus from the Philippines. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intervened to eradicate the infected animals and burn the complex down, and avoided thereby avoiding a potentially disastrous outbreak. Afterwards, in February 1990, a number of infected monkeys were shipped to Hazleton facilities in both Virginia and Texas. This strain was also found to be [[wiktionary:airborne|airborne]]. More Reston ebolavirus infected monkeys were discovered in 1992 in Siena, Italy and at the Texas Hazleton facility again in March 1996.Alleged primate abuse
![A monkey in a restraint tube filmed by PETA in Covance, Vienna, Virginia, 2004-5 [link]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:600-restraint-tube4.jpg "A monkey in a restraint tube filmed by PETA in Covance, Vienna, Virginia, 2004-5 [link]")
In 2004, German journalist Friedrich Mülln, working undercover at the German Covance facility in Münster, Europe's largest primate-testing center, obtained photographs, video, and other evidence of the apparent abuse of monkeys and other non-human primates. The laboratory in Münster specializes in reproduction toxicology and primate toxicology, which includes testing on pregnant primates. The company is responsible for around half the primate experiments in Germany.
The undercover footage shows staff making monkeys dance in time to blaring pop music, handling them roughly, and screaming at them. The monkeys are kept isolated in small wire cages with little or no natural light, no environmental enrichment, and high noise levels caused by staff shouting and playing the radio. [video]
Primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall described the living conditions of the monkeys as "horrendous," and told the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) that to see them "crazed with boredom, and sadness probably, is deeply, deeply disturbing." Primatologist Stephen Brend told BUAV that using monkeys in such a stressed state is "bad science" and that trying to extrapolate useful data in such circumstances is an "untenable proposition." [link] People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) found similar conditions in Covance's Vienna, Virginia lab during an undercover investigation in 2004-5. [link]
The ensuing publicity in Germany gave rise to the "Close Covance" (Covance Schliessen) animal rights campaign there, as well as campaigns launched in Britain by the BUAV, and in America by PETA.
Lawsuit
After parts of Mülln's footage were shown on German television and in major newspapers, Covance filed a lawsuit, leading a German court to forbid further distribution of the material. The publication ban led to major protests from animal-rights advocates and anti-censorship activists. A first ruling confirming Covance's claims was partially reverted by a higher court's ruling that the right of the public to be informed on the subject prevailed over the company's privacy rights. The video footage may now be displayed publicly, albeit not in the form of the existing television edition, but it may not be used by animal-rights groups.
See also
External links
- [Official webpage of Covance, Inc.]
- [Official webpage of CRP, Inc.]
- [Monkey breeder article] CNN article related to the Reston outbreak
- [Covance Cruelty]
- [Close Covance]
- [Covance killed curious george]
- [Alleged abuse of monkeys, filmed undercover] by PETA inside Covance, 2004-5
- [The Campaign Against Covance]
- [Flash-Website about Covance]
- [Covance undercover 2004 (Germany)]
- [Covance undercover 2005 (USA)]
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