Stockholders to Be Presented With Effective, Humane Alternatives

For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2005

Contact:
Troy Seidle 757-622-7382

Cincinnati, Ohio — PETA has introduced a resolution that will be voted on at General Electric’s annual meeting in Cincinnati on Wednesday. The resolution calls on the Fairfield, Conn.-based company to replace five painful animal tests with effective, state-of-the-art non-animal test methods that are currently available and in use in the European Union, Canada, and other countries:

Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 10 a.m.
Place: Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St.

The resolution is part of PETA’s "Give the Animals 5" Campaign, which seeks to end the use of rabbits and other animals in painful tests that involve injecting animals with drugs or applying chemicals to their shaved skin. More effective non-animal test methods using human cells and human blood are available.

Working with a number of its members, PETA has filed similar resolutions with 16 of the largest chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. GE filed an appeal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that the resolution should be declared ineligible for consideration by its stockholders. The SEC rejected GE’s arguments, along with those of four other companies—Dow Chemical, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, and Schering-Plough—and ruled that the companies must include the PETA-sponsored animal-testing resolutions in their proxy materials. The filings have led to productive discussions between PETA’s science advisors and several of the companies. PETA agreed to withdraw its resolutions from Johnson & Johnson, ExxonMobil, Schering-Plough, and Dow following negotiations.

"Shareholders have a right to vote on an issue that affects their investment," says PETA Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "With caring consumers now boycotting companies that conduct animal tests, making the switch to progressive, humane alternatives can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line."

A copy of the resolution is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site StopAnimalTests.com.