Attacks by animal rights extremists have reached record lows, according to a survey by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
The biggest drop was in the number of capitulations - instances where companies or individuals cave in to pressure from extremists not to work with organisations that use animals in research. These fell to just two incidents in the first half of this year, compared with 24 in the same period last year.
The improvements are largely due to increased police focus on animal rights extremism. Assistant Chief Constable Anton Setchell, national coordinator for domestic extremism for the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the Guardian last month: "There are signs that the improved police response, along with measures taken by government and across the industry, is starting to make a difference. There have been many significant convictions of animal rights extremists in the past 18 months, with others awaiting sentence. Many extremists are on bail and other major investigations are ongoing. Statistics show that crimes have reduced."
There has been a considerable police effort to round up extremists called Operation Achilles - this involved 700 police and support staff and raids on 29 UK addresses, one in Belgium and two in the Netherlands. Twelve people have so far been charged. The police say that there is virtually no activity from animal rights extremists outside the battleground of Oxford, where the university is building a £18m biomedical research centre that will house animals used in research.
The ABPI said were 29 incidents of damage to property in the past six months compared with 31 for the same period in 2006 and the number of home visits (where protestors target people's homes) rose from 15 in the first half of 2006 to 20 in 2007.
Philip Wright, direction of science and technology at the ABPI says there is more work to be done: "While fewer companies are withdrawing from contracts with animal research facilities after threats from animal rights extremists, more work needs to be done to build confidence across the business community to support companies going about their legal activities."
