Mouse Masks and a Giant Poster: Why PETA Plans a Protest at Lilly Headquarters
INDIANAPOLIS–If you happen to be at Eli Lilly headquarters in downtown Indianapolis at noon Thursday, you’ll see people in mouse masks with a five ft. tall poster. On that poster will be the names of pharmaceutical companies that have banned an animal experiment called the “forced swim test”. Eli Lilly is not on that list.
“They have told me directly in-person when I’ve attended a shareholder meeting that they want to keep the option open to be able to use the test again in the future,” said Dr. Emily Trunnell, a neuroscientist with PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
PETA is protesting the use of the practice, which Trunnell said is used to give indications about human depression, based on how small animals like mice, rats and hamsters, react to being forced to swim in a beaker, not knowing when or if they’ll be rescued.
“This has been debunked by the scientific community and most pharmaceutical companies, the top ones at least, like Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, have all banned the forced swim test already. But, Eli Lilly refuses to do so.”
PETA has been protesting the test at Lilly headquarters with several events since 2018.
“They claim they haven’t conducted the test since 2015. But, there are papers published as recently as 2019, that describe the forced swim test on animals.”
One document readily available online is a set of letters from PETA, Eli Lilly and the Securities Exchange Commission, in which Lilly’s board declined to consider PETA’s proposal to stop the practice, saying it was inappropriate to consider PETA’s proposal at a shareholder’s meeting.
LINK: Documents on Eli Lilly and PETA
“We do our due diligence to try to contact companies and organizations in a collegial, private manner through e-mails and letters,” said Trunnell.
She said that when their voice is not heard, and animals continue to suffer that they protest. Sometimes that’s with mouse masks. Sometimes it’s with no clothes on. Trunnell defended the gimmicks.
“Yes, we will do what it takes too get this subject discussed and to try to make some changes that will help the lives of animals,” she said.
