Investment industry struggles with how to handle animal-rights extremists in England

England is a land of extreme animal lovers. Now it appears some of them are taking extreme measures to stop animal experimentation–they’re hitting companies where the money is. “Anti-vivisectionists have extended their campaign to cover shareholders and firms that do business with companies that conduct animal experimentation.”

Leaving aside the moral rectitude of threatening, bullying and intimidating as a tactic, these extremists have found a powerful way to force compliance to their demands by targeting the money behind big pharmaceutical and bioscience companies like Glaxo SmithKline. So now business people have to learn to deal with terrorists, just as governments are doing.

While I can applaud the fact that some little guys are going to force a huge corporate giant to do something, the technique is off base. Terrorism and vigilantism are just that, no matter who is doing them and for what cause.