Harrogate animal testing company expansion plans approved

Plans to expand a controversial animal testing company in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead.

Labcorp Drug Development, which was previously called Covance and is based on Otley Road, conducts tests on various animals, including dogs and mice.

It lodged plans to refurbish and expand its site after purchasing six vacant buildings.

The company bought the former Nidec SR Drives offices, known as East Park House, in December 2020 for £2.45 million, according to HM Land Registry documents.

Now, Harrogate Borough Council has approved the proposal for the expansion.

Under plans submitted to the council, the firm will refurbish and extend the former Nidec offices.

A new entrance will be created, and the ground and first floors will be reconfigured. A one-way system to access the car park will also be built to reduce “traffic complications” on nearby Otley Road.

The proposed visual of East Park House, as submitted by Labcorp.

Labcorp also intends to refurbish five other buildings on the site to create office space, extensions for “new plant requirements” and further car parking and cycle space.

Rebecca Micallef, the authority’s economic and transport officer, said in response to a consultation on the plans that the economic development team were supportive of the expansion.

She said:

“This proposal will enable expansion of the business within its current location and promote the adaptation, refurbishment and reuse of a currently vacant commercial property. The proposed capital investment from a foreign company is particularly welcomed during this time of economic uncertainty caused by covid and Brexit.

“The proposed expansion and development will support Labcorp’s future within the Harrogate district and secure additional high level, high paid skilled jobs, directly supporting the aims of our economic growth strategy.”

Labcorp said in documents submitted to the council that the plans will help to “ensure the continued life” of property on the site.

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Animal testing in Harrogate has proved controversial and protests frequently take place outside Labcrop.

In October, Cllr Victoria Oldham, Conservative councillor for Washburn on the borough council, called for a moratorium on animal testing in the district.

However, this was turned down. Cllr Graham Swift, cabinet member for economic development, said in response:

“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.”

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

Meanwhile, Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has lobbied government to help the company expand.

Harrogate thalidomide campaigner defends animal testing firm Labcorp

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.

Call to ban animal testing in Harrogate district rejected

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.”

 

 

Harrogate animal testing company bids to expand

Economy leaders at Harrogate Borough Council have backed plans for an expansion of a controversial animal testing company in the town.

Labcorp Drug Development, which was previously called Covance and is based on Otley Road, has lodged plans to refurbish and expand its site after purchasing six vacant buildings.

The company bought the former Nidec SR Drives offices, known as East Park House, in December 2020 for £2.45 million, according to HM Land Registry documents.

Under plans submitted to the council, the firm would refurbish and extend the former Nidec offices.

A new entrance would be created, and the ground and first floors would be reconfigured. A one-way system to access the car park would also be built to reduce “traffic complications” on nearby Otley Road.

Read more:

Labcorp also intends to refurbish five other buildings on the site to create office space, create extensions for “new plant requirements” and create further car parking and cycle space.

In planning documents submitted to the council, the company said:

“The design, configuration, and palette of materials for the proposal have been well thought out and are of high quality. The refurbishment works to the property will greatly improve the appearance of the building, but more importantly also ensure the continued life of the building by occupying a currently unused unit.

“Carrying out the proposed work creates a usable building for the new required use and will ensure that the building is occupied and maintained and does not fall into disrepair, which would result in a negative impact on the surrounding area.”

The proposed visual of East Park House, as submitted by Labcorp.

How East Park House would look.

In response to a council consultation, Rebecca Micallef, the authority’s economic and transport officer, said the council’s economic development team was “fully supportive” of the proposal.

She said:

“This proposal will enable expansion of the business within its current location and promote the adaptation, refurbishment and reuse of a currently vacant commercial property. The proposed capital investment from a foreign company is particularly welcomed during this time of economic uncertainty caused by covid and Brexit.

“The proposed expansion and development will support Labcorp’s future within the Harrogate district and secure additional high level, high paid skilled jobs, directly supporting the aims of our economic growth strategy.”

Harrogate Borough Council planning officers will decide whether to accept the plan at a later date.

Last month, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, requested a meeting with George Freeman, science minister, to discuss Labcorp’s proposed UK expansion over the next five years.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Jones told Mr Freeman that the company was “one of the largest employers in my constituency”.

The request was later criticised by animal rights charity PETA, which urged Mr Jones to “wake up to the advent of progressive, non-animal research”.

Animals rights group urges Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones to ‘wake up’

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.”

 

Protesters clash with employees at Harrogate animal testing lab

Protesters have clashed with employees at an animal testing labratory in Harrogate this morning.

A group of around 10 to 20 people who are opposed to animal testing will be stationed at the entrance of Labcorp Drug Development just off Otley Road all day.

They held banners with “animal killers work here”, “animals are not ours to experiment on” and “end animal testing”.

Labcorp defends animal research as necessary to help save human lives. It uses the data it gathers from animals to develop treatments for cancer, heat disease, multiple sclerosis and more.

Jane Rose, who attended the demonstration, told the Stray Ferret:

“We just come together for the animals. We just want to publicise that this company thinks it’s okay to test in animals in 2021.

“Labcorp is a massive company based in the USA and we are tiny. But so what? We still have to speak for the animals.

“I just feel sick whenever I see a white van because I worry that is another load of puppies going to be tested on. It’s just wrong.”

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A short walk away on Otley Road many will recognise 80-year-old Annabel Holt, who has been protesting for the last two decades.

She encourages people to beep as they drive past to show support. Ms Holt told the Stray Ferret:

“I was brought up fox hunting, I was married to somebody who never stopped shooting. I used to kill creatures.

“But I perceived the physical brilliance of all creatures. I think this is horrendous right here in Harrogate.”

The Stray Ferret approached Labcorp for a response to the protester’s concerns. A spokesperson 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.

“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.”