Biotech Firm Sues Animal Activists
EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Chiron Corp. has sued an animal rights group, accusing the activists of waging a violent harassment campaign and supporting the man charged with detonating two pipe bombs at the biotechnology company’s sprawling campus here.
The suit, filed last week in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks to keep activists affiliated with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, known as SHAC USA, at least 50 feet away from Chiron property and 100 feet away from employees and their properties.
The organization seeks to put animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences out of business by pressuring clients such as Chiron.
It denied any involvement with protests that Chiron said included vandalizing workers’ properties and illegally racking up thousands of dollars on employees’ credit cards.
The group also denied any connection to Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 26-year-old activist being sought by the FBI in connection with the bombing of Chiron in August and another attack at a cosmetic manufacturer in Pleasanton, Calif., a month later. Nobody was injured in either of those blasts, which shattered a few windows.
On its website, a group calling itself the Revolutionary Cells claimed responsibility for the bombings. SHAC USA said it had no connection with any illegal activity.
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