"Blair vows 'robust' action against animal rights extremists"

The Brits are cracking down on violent animal rights folks, and I say good for them.

"Hundreds of millions of people in the UK and around the world today are alive and healthy because of the pioneering work of our scientists and researchers," [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair said in the three-page document.

"Many millions more will be spared an early death or a life of pain because of the research now under way. They deserve our support. And they should get it."

Amen. Because of this:

The British government tightened up legislation in response to a number of high-profile animal rights campaigns.

They included threats, intimidation, harassment, criminal damage and violence against staff at Huntingdon Life Sciences, in Cambridge, eastern England, which tests new medicines and vaccines on animals.

Companies and individuals associated with the facility, including shareholders of British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, have also been targeted.

Contractors at a new biomedical research centre in Oxford, southern England, have also faced threats, forcing work to stop, while the owners of a farm that bred guinea pigs for medical testing suffered a six-year terror campaign. [emphases added]

It's sad when people put animals above people. I don't think you should be cruel to animals for cruelty's sake, but, then again, how much of an argument can animal rights activists have when they also think dead fish should be treated with respect?

If you run across people who threaten you for being disresepctful to sushi, keep your kids away from them.