Despite Company's Attempts to Block PETA's Resolution, Group Will Present to Stockholders
For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382
Salt Lake City — For the second time in five years, PETA will present a shareholder resolution calling on GE and GE Healthcare to disclose information about their use of animals and plans to reduce and phase out animal testing wherever possible:
Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 9 a.m.
Place: Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S.W. Temple, Salt Lake City
"Shareholders have the right to vote on important animal welfare issues that may affect their investments," says Jessica Sandler, director of PETA's Regulatory Testing Division. "GE has an ethical and a fiscal responsibility to ensure that it uses only the most modern science available—and that doesn't include cruel and archaic animal tests."
In its resolution, PETA notes that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, animal testing is inaccurate in nine out of 10 cases of new drug development and that superior, non-animal alternatives exist for many of GE's animal-based tests. Of particular concern is the company's apparent use of a method of antibody production so painful that the National Institutes of Health has recommended against it and several countries have banned its use. The procedure causes enormous tumors that balloon from the abdomens of the animals, resulting in severe pain and distress. It has been superseded by modern non-animal methods that are far more precise and reproducible as well as less costly.
PETA withdrew a previous shareholder resolution with GE in 2006, when GE agreed to update its welfare standards for the animals used in its laboratories. Despite PETA's best efforts to maintain an open and productive dialogue with GE, the company cut off all communication with PETA in 2008. After communication attempts failed, PETA filed its current resolution, which GE attempted to exclude. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled in PETA's favor, and GE was forced to include the group's resolution in its proxy materials.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.