Organization: Becton, Dickinson and Company

Year: 2015

Resolved: Resolved: To promote accountability for animals used by our Company, the Board should issue an annual report to shareholders detailing clear plans to maximize the use of nonanimal testing methods and procedures to promote the best possible care of animals.

Supporting Statement:Supporting Statement: Companies that conduct experiments on animals acknowledge that public sensitivities associated with doing so leave the companies vulnerable to public relations disasters and falling stock value when reports of abuse or neglect of animals surface. Thus, to protect shareholders' investments, it is incumbent upon our Company to demonstrate transparency and accountability by having procedures in place to promote the best possible care of animals used both in-house and at external laboratories. Our Company supported animal testing at facilities with histories of failing to adhere to minimal federal guidelines for the treatment of animals in laboratories. For example, in 2014, our Company funded a study1 in which monkeys were infected with the measles virus. The study was conducted at a facility that has been repeatedly cited for violations such as housing social nonhuman primates in solitary confinement, deviating from approved study protocols, and performing multiple surgeries without justification or rationale.2 In addition, monkeys and other animals have died at this facility from neglect and unsafe laboratory conditions. In another study, led by a BD researcher, mice were subjected to retro-orbital bleeding, a blood collection technique in which a glass tube is used to pierce an area behind the eye to draw blood.3 This method is banned in the UK because it is so cruel and can result in hemorrhage, ulceration, blindness, bone fracture, and other painful injuries to the eye. Yet our Company used this method despite the availability of more humane blood collection methods. It is also imperative that our Company has a clear plan to maximize the use of nonanimal testing methods, otherwise it risks lagging behind in implementing innovative, scientifically superior, and more humane testing methods. For example, the Company sells antibodies derived from a painful method of production in animals called the 'ascites' method even though effective and humane alternatives exist. Ascites antibody production involves causing irritation to an animal's stomach before injecting cells that spur the growth of a massive tumor. The animals experience pain and distress as their stomachs grossly distend and fill with antibody-containing fluid. A needle is inserted into the animals' stomachs to withdraw the fluid, and the animals are often forced to endure multiple rounds of this procedure before being killed.4 This method is so painful that a number of countries have banned it, and the U.S. government recommends against its use.5,6 These examples highlight the need to for a strategy to maximize the use of nonanimal testing methods and improve the welfare of animals used in-house and in experiments financially supported by our Company. We urge shareholders to vote FOR this proposal.