LONDON -- Some animal-rights activists in Britain have committed violent crimes against people and companies they dislike. In so doing, they have shown not only that they have lost a sense of proportion, but that they have no rational ethical code. Animal-rights terrorists need to be confronted as firmly as other terrorists; those responsible for violent and threatening behavior should be arrested and tried in accordance with due process of law. Britain has proper and adequate laws outlawing cruelty to animals, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has inspectors who look into complaints and prosecute perpetrators of cruel behavior toward animals.

The main objective of animal-rights activists in Britain recently has been to try to drive out of business a firm called Huntingdon Life Sciences, which conducts medical experiments on animals. The experiments, which the company conducts in a controlled environment, are needed by pharmaceutical companies, which have to show that drugs they develop have been properly tested before they can be authorized for clinical use. If Huntingdon Life Sciences were forced out of business, British pharmaceutical companies might have to do their experimental work abroad. This would be damaging to the companies, and the development of important new drugs could be delayed.

Huntingdon Life Sciences was exposed some time ago for unacceptable cruelty to primates, but they have taken action to prevent a recurrence and have been concentrating on experiments on rodents.