September 8, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC – Upon learning yesterday of the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) decision to postpone its listing of Life Sciences Research, Inc. (LSR) due to threats of eco-terror, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, cautioned NYSE chairman John Thain and president Catherine Kinney not to capitulate to the demands of environmental extremists.

“It seems to me unimaginable that this country’s worldwide symbol of the integrity of the capital markets, the NYSE, would capitulate to threats, or even the mere threat of threats, from a single issue extremist group,” Senator Inhofe wrote in a letter to NYSE officials. “Indeed, I trust the NYSE will duly consider the potentially disastrous precedential effect of a decision not to list LSR. What happens then to the other companies in the same business as LSR that currently trade on the NYSE? Would you not expect activists to pressure the NYSE to delist those companies? Does this expose the NYSE to further pressure from groups opposed to a wide variety of activities and businesses conducted by NYSE listed companies, from defense, to tobacco, to firearms, to spirits? LSR could truly represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg.”

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is conducting an investigation into eco-terrorism involving environmental and animal rights extremists. In May 2005 the Committee held its first hearing on criminally based activism and plans further hearings specifically examining the campaign against LSR and its operating subsidiary, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). SHAC has threatened the lives of corporate executives. A news report regarding the NYSE decision quoted SHAC spokesman Greg Avery as saying “It’s another humiliating slap in the face for HLS.” Avery was convicted in 2000 of threatening to murder an HLS executive.