Like previous downtown Chandler protests against Covance, Friday's noontime demonstration featured about 15 animal rights activists and out-of-state organizers pointing large printed signs at Arizona Avenue traffic.
What was different this time was the man in a fuzzy spotted dog suit who pretended to smoke a giant cigarette. Inside the suit and standing in the scorching heat was 20-year-old Brent Robinson of Victorville, Calif., an intern for Virginia-based People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
He stopped his exaggerated puffing and coughing performance several times to take off the top of the dog costume and pour cold water on his head.
Nearby, PETA spokesman Ian Blessing of Virginia told a handful of bystanders and media representatives the demonstration was meant to call attention to what he said was Covance's practice of exposing dogs to cigarette smoke to help the tobacco industry sell cigarettes.
"Covance Kills Beagles," read one sign. "Covance and Big Tobacco - Partners in Death," said another.
Camilla Strongin, local spokeswoman for drug-testing firm Covance, which has plans to build in Chandler, said this was just one more example of misrepresentation and false accusations by PETA. The company has never used dogs to test tobacco products, Strongin said.
It has done work for tobacco companies, but that was to help adult smokers quit as part of a 1999 tobacco settlement, she said. Most of the tested subjects were human volunteers but "one study consisted of three rats," Strongin said.
Covance Inc. is a global biotechnology firm that is seeking to build one of its largest drug development facilities near Price and Germann roads. That has drawn objections from animal rights activists because the company uses animals in drug testing. Covance is seeking rezoning of its proposed 38-acre site but no hearings have been set.
Several of Friday's demonstrators said they live in Chandler, Tempe and Phoenix, and that they heard about the protest through e-mail lists or their PETA membership.
"I'm thinking about moving out of Chandler," said demonstrator Romana Havech, 32.
Blessing passed out what appeared to be a list of names on Covance letterhead under the title "Phillip Morris/Covance Project Team" and dated July 10, 2002. He said it is evidence of the company's complicity with the tobacco industry.
Strongin said she could not immediately determine what the "Phillip Morris/Covance Project Team" document was and if it was related to the tobacco settlement tests. "All it proves is there was a meeting," she said.
Blessing said Strongin herself is a "big tobacco" loyalist, citing her work as spokeswoman for the Proposition 206 campaign. The proposition on the Nov. 7 ballot proposes a statewide indoor smoking ban, with the notable exception of allowing the practice to continue in bars. It has backing from the tobacco industry.
The rival Smoke Free Arizona campaign for Proposition 201 calls for a statewide indoor smoking ban and 2 cents per pack tax to pay for enforcement. It has backing from anti-tobacco groups and health organizations, including the Arizona Lung Association.
"I don't work for tobacco companies," Strongin said Friday. "I don't think there is anything more I can say about PETA's continual lack of credible information."
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