A petition has been launched to stop an animal testing company from felling two semi-mature trees in Harrogate.

American healthcare firm Labcorp Drug Development, which was previously known as Covance and has a site on Otley Road, conducts tests on animals, including dogs and mice.

It is frequently the subject of animal rights activists’ protests.

The company has submitted plans to North Yorkshire Council to fell trees at its Harrogate site.

The application, submitted by agent Arbotech on behalf of the company, says both trees — a Swedish whitebeam and a grey alder — are protected by tree preservation orders, which requires applicants to provide a reason for felling to take place.

A tree report carried out by Boroughbridge environmental consultants Barnes Associates on behalf of Labcorp says the grey alder is “dead” and poses a “moderate risk”. The arboriculturists recommended the tree is felled.

It adds the Swedish whitebeam poses a “slight” risk, but also recommends the tree should be removed.

However, one Harrogate resident is taking action against the application.

Shelagh Dixon, who set up the petition yesterday, told the Stray Ferret she wants to alert people to Labcorp’s plans, as well as its animal testing work in general. She said:

“Labcorp is now hacking down protected trees. The destruction of these trees disrupts local eco-systems and contributes to climate change.

“We cannot stand by while this happens. We need your help. It’s time we hold Labcorp accountable for their actions.”

The proposed visual of the site extension, as submitted by Labcorp at the time.

Ms Dixon also said she fears the tree-felling could lead to plans to expand the drug development site, which she added would mean “more harm would ensue”.

Her concerns follows the former Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to approve plans to refurbish and expand the Otley Road site in February 2022.

Labcorp purchased six vacant buildings in December 2020 and planned to create a new entrance, a one-way system to access the car park and reconfigure the ground and first floors.

However, it is not known whether work has since started on the site.

The Stray Ferret approached Labcorp about the petition and the tree-felling plans, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Ms Dixon’s petition has already received more than 500 signatures. She hopes it will achieve at least 1,000.

North Yorkshire Council will decide on the application at a later date.

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Animal rights protestors marched from Harrogate town centre to Labcorp yesterday to protest against animal testing.

American-owned Labcorp, formerly known as Covance, has tested medicine on animals at Harlow Hill since the 1970s.

The company says this helps to develop life-saving and life-enhancing medicines for diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Demonstrators from Vivisection Exposed gave out leaflets, held placards and banners and used a microphone to spread their messages in the town centre at noon yesterday.

Protesting in the town centre.

At 2pm they walked along Cold Bath Road and up Otley Road to Labcorp’s buildings.

Activist Jane Rose said:

“We held a one-minute silence to remember the animals that had entered Labcorp but didn’t get to leave and all those imprisoned in laboratories around the world.

“We also remembered Barry Horne, an animal rights activist who died on 5th November 2001 after suffering liver failure brought on by numerous hunger strikes.”

One of the placards at the demo.

Ms Rose said many people in Harrogate didn’t know Labcorp existed or thought it had shut down. She added:

“We gave out facts over a microphone so residents and visitors of Harrogate could hear the truth and hopefully do some research themselves to see how animal testing is not helping to find drugs and cures for humans.”

Labcorp employs about 1,400 people in Harrogate, has 170 study rooms and has 15 PhD students working there.

The Stray Ferret approached Labcorp for comment but has not had a reply.

The company previously said it takes “very seriously” the ethical and regulatory responsibilities to treat research animals with the “greatest care and respect”. It added testing new drugs on animals “is the right thing to do”.

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A Harrogate thalidomide campaigner has defended local firm Labcorp Drug Development in the row over animal testing.

Guy Tweedy said if thalidomide had been tested on animals in the 1950s, thousands of people such as himself might have been spared birth defects caused by the drug.

Mr Tweedy, who is one of 447 beneficiaries of the Thalidomide Trust, as well as a trustee of Harrogate-based charity Disability Action Yorkshire, said thalidomide was barely tested before it went on sale.

He added:

“If there had been better testing on animals before thalidomide came out in the UK between 1958 and 1962, it might have shown they could have been born with deformities, which would have prevented the same thing happening in humans.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones is lobbying the government to help the company, previously called Covance, to expand. About a third of the American firm Labcorp’s 4,000 UK staff are based in Harrogate.

The site on Otley Road is frequently targeted by animal protestors. Harrogate Borough Council heard this month that live animals, including Beagle puppies, non-human primates. rabbits, mice and mini-pigs are experimented on in Harrogate.

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Cllr Victoria Oldham, the Conservative representative for Washburn, recently called for a moratorium on animal testing in the Harrogate district.

Her motion was rejected but councillors did agree to visit the site.

Mr Tweedy said he was an animal lover with several pets, including a dog and rabbits, but he nevertheless understood the necessity of testing for non-cosmetic purposes.

“At the end of the day they are doing tests for scientific purposes. If they had done the same for thalidomide I wouldn’t still be campaigning 60 years later.”

Primarily marketed under the brand name Distaval, thalidomide was sold to pregnant mothers in the UK for less than four years before it was withdrawn.

Harrogate Borough Council last night rejected a bid to introduce a ban on animal testing in the district.

Victoria Oldham, the Conservative councillor for Washburn, called for a moratorium on animal testing in the district at the full council meeting.

Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, is lobbying government to help Harrogate-based animal testing firm Labcorp Drug Development expand.

Protests frequently take place at the company’s site on Otley Road.

Cllr Oldham told the meeting that Beagle puppies, non-human primates. rabbits, mice and mini-pigs were used on the site.

She added:

“It has long been acknowledged that the costs of animal experiments are high and that they are not reliably predictive of what will happen in humans.

“The current drug development failure rate stands at a staggering 96% and the global non-animal testing market was worth $1.11 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow by up to $1.65 billion by 2023.

“Bearing these factors in mind, why is there an insistence that investment in medical progress needs to be in the outdated and unreliable field of animal experiments?

“Local jobs are important to our district but at what cost?

“Will you consider leading on introducing a moratorium on animal testing in the Harrogate borough?”

Cllr Oldham, an animal lover, said she “considered it to be a non-political question”.

Cllr Graham Swift, the deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, replied:

“I don’t like and I don’t want medicines tested on animals. But the law insists medicines are tested on animals prior to being tested on humans and prior to being used as medicines.

“The recent covid vaccines are a great example of the benefits of medicines. But all drugs administered through humans are administered through this process of animal testing.

“I have great faith in science and research. New testing methods can and do and will reduce the number of animals and the duration of their use.

“So I continue to support the development of technologies that reduce animal testing. It is my hope that one day these technologies will mean that no medicines are ever tested on animals.

“But it is not possible for Harrogate Borough Council to declare a unilateral moratorium on animal testing in the Harrogate borough. It is not within our powers.”

Cllr Swift added that about a third of Labcorp’s 4,000 UK staff were based in Harrogate, which was “great for the economy”.

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He said he could facilitate a request by cllr Oldham for councillors to visit the site but added they needed to remember the company was regulated by the Home Office rather than the council. He added:

“I am confident that Labcorp are very happy to entertain councillors at their site to educate, to explain and for us to understand the progress they are making.

“I think it’s fair to say that this is a top quality company doing things for the benefit of human beings and it is not our role to simply go in there and police them.

“It is very clearly the role of the government and the authorities to do that. But it’s totally appropriate that they educate us.”

The testing of medicine on animals has taken place off Otley Road on Harlow Hill since the 1970s.

Labcorp, formerly known as Covance, says its research on animals helps to develop life-saving and life-enhancing medicines for diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

However, it’s an emotive subject and the practice raises ethical questions. Protestors have met outside the site for many years to object against what they believe is “wrong” and “horrendous”.

Labcorp employs around 1,400 people in Harrogate, has 170 study rooms, and has 15 PhD students working there.

Andrew Jones MP praised the business in Parliament this week calling it “the heart of new medicine development both in the UK and across Europe”, but his comments drew criticism from some.

What is animal testing?

UK law requires all new medicines to be tested on two live mammals, one of which must be a large non-rodent — usually a dog or monkey — before a potential new drug is tried on humans.

Drugs from the heroin-substitute methadone to various cancer drugs and the covid vaccines were tested on animals first.

Many of these experiments cause suffering to the animals involved.

Labcorp Drug Development said it takes “very seriously” the ethical and regulatory responsibilities to treat research animals with the “greatest care and respect”. It says testing new drugs on animals “is the right thing to do”.

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What happens in the tests?

The Stray Ferret spoke to Chris Magee, head of policy at Understanding Animal Research, a group that works with universities and the pharmaceutical industry to explain why animals are used in medical and scientific research.

He estimates around a quarter of the experiments that take place at Labcorp in Harrogate involve testing on animals, with the majority of these being on mice. Crop research and diagnostic testing also take place there.

He said beagles are bred domestically for the specific purpose of being used in testing before being driven to Harrogate.

He said the majority of tests on beagles involve putting a pill inside their food once a day. Scientists will then observe how the animal reacts over a period of usually around a month.

They will then euthanise the dog at the end of the experiment to look for early signs of disease. In 2019, figures show dogs were used in 4,227 experiments across the UK.

Government statistics show that 75% of these dogs encounter “mild” suffering and 25% encounter “moderate” suffering.

Moderate suffering includes forcing the dog to do something that they would normally run away from, giving it cancer or “swim tests” which involve putting an animal in water to test the antidepressant qualities of a drug. Animal charity PETA calls swim tests “cruel”.

Mr Magee said the dogs are exercised and played with and reports of them being locked up in cages all day are inaccurate.

Does it work?

Mr Magee said out of 100 drugs tested on animals, around 40 unsafe and deadly drugs are “weeded out” before they get to humans.

He provided statistics that suggest dogs in particular are good at detecting which compounds will be toxic to people.

However, PETA says many of the tests done on animals are unnecessary with trials done merely because researchers are curious.

Labcorp trades on the US stock market and brought in over $11 billion in revenue in 2018. Critics of the practice believe it is driven by profit and not the welfare of animals, which Mr Magee disputed.

94% of drugs that pass testing on animals are withdrawn before human trials, including for commercial reasons.

Are there alternatives to testing on animals?

Many people who oppose testing on animals believe it is outdated and should be replaced with more modern alternatives.

These include growing human and animal cell tissue in labs.

A spokesperson for the Harrogate District Green Party told the Stray Ferret the UK should “push itself to the forefront” of research and development without animal testing.

Mr Magee said the companies such as Labcorp are investing millions of pounds into alternatives that could be replace animal testing by the end of the 2020s.

He said:

“If animal testing is still being used then it’s necessary, it’s as simple as that.”

Animal rights charity Peta has criticised Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones for lobbying on behalf of an animal testing company.

Mr Jones this week asked to meet science minister George Freeman to discuss ways of helping Labcorp Drug Development expand over the next five years.

The American-owned company, which has a site on Otley Road in Harrogate and was previously called Covance, frequently attracts demonstrators waving placards such as ‘puppy killers work here’.

A vigil for the animals tested on at Labcorp will be held in Harrogate town centre on Sunday afternoon.

Labcorp’s activities have also been criticised by comedian Ricky Gervais and actor Peter Egan.

Dr Julia Baines, Peta’s science policy manager, said Labcorp’s “monstrous laboratory causes immense suffering and has shown that it is out of touch with state-of-the-art replacements for the caging and use of animals”.

Ms Baines added:

“Peta is rushing a copy of our research modernisation deal to Mr Jones to encourage him to wake up to the advent of progressive, non-animal research. Good science and sound ethics can propel us towards the shared goal of better health.”

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Gervais and Egan spoke out after a film by campaign group Free the MBR Beagles showed beagles being loaded into vans from a breeding site in Cambridgeshire and transported to Labcorp in Harrogate for testing.

Gervais said it was “heartbreaking to hear these puppies crying out for mercy” and called for “an immediate ban on this shocking animal cruelty”.

‘New drugs must be tested in animals’

Mr Jones did not respond to the Stray Ferret’s request for a response to the claims.

The Conservative MP said in the Commons this week that Labcorp was “at the heart of new medicine development both in the UK and across Europe and has played a role in the life science industry response to covid”.

A spokesman for Labcorp said:

“Labcorp Drug Development takes very seriously our ethical and regulatory responsibilities to treat research animals with the greatest care and respect. In addition to being the right thing to do, the proper care of research animals is fundamental to sound scientific research and the ability to develop life-saving and life-enhancing new medicines for cancer, deadly infections, heart disease, leukaemia, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, and many other disabling diseases.

“New drugs must be tested in animals before human clinical trials to ensure the safety of patients and volunteers and there are clear links between excellent animal welfare and medical breakthroughs.

“Labcorp Drug Development, formerly known as Covance adheres to, or exceeds, all national and international standards of animal welfare, including the European Council Directive 2010/63/EU, the U.S. Animal Welfare Act and the requirements set forth by the United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. We are also among the more than 70 original signers of the United Kingdom’s Concordat on Openness on Animal Research.

“Additionally, Labcorp Drug Development participates in the voluntary accreditation programme of AAALAC International, formerly known as Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, which includes on-site visits to ensure that we are meeting or exceeding prescribed standards for policies, animal housing and management, veterinary care and facilities. AAALAC International is a private, nonprofit organisation that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programmes.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones is to meet the science minister to help a controversial Harrogate animal testing firm expand.

Labcorp Drug Development, which is on Otley Road and was previously called Covance, has been subject to regular demonstrations by animal activists.

A group held banners with slogans such as “puppy killers work here” during a demonstration last month.

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Jones said Labcorp was “one of the largest employers in my constituency”.

The Conservative MP added the firm planned to expand and asked whether George Freeman, who was appointed science minister in this month’s government reshuffle, would meet to discuss it. Mr Jones said:

“One of the largest employers in my constituency is Labcorp, a business that is at the heart of new medicine development both in the UK and across Europe and has played a role in the life science industry response to covid.

“It is considering UK expansion over the next five years at a number of sites across the UK.

“Will my honourable friend meet me to discuss that opportunity, and also some of the obstacles that may get in the way of it, with a view to securing expansion in the UK as a whole but in Harrogate in particular?

Mr Freeman replied:

“I should be delighted to meet my honourable friend soon to discuss that.

“Labcorp is a major global corporation whose investment in the new clinical pharmacology site is vital. It is in such companies that we need to be investing to drive private investment in research and development.”

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The Stray Ferret contacted Labcorp but did not receive a response by time of publication.

It previously told us it “takes very seriously our ethical and regulatory responsibilities to treat research animals with the greatest care and respect”.

It added:

“In addition to being the right thing to do, the proper care of research animals is fundamental to sound scientific research and the ability to develop life-saving and life-enhancing new medicines.

“New drugs must be tested in animals before human clinical trials to ensure the safety of patients and volunteers and there are clear links between excellent animal welfare and medical breakthroughs.”