A group hoping to halt Covance's plans in Chandler has filed an initiative to ban monkeys - like those used in drug testing - in the community.
But it doesn't appear the effort has reached far.
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Five women filed the application for initiative petitions on June 6, said Chandler City Clerk Marla Paddock. Based on their request to have the effort on the November ballot, Paddock said they would need to collect 15,018 signatures by July 3.
Paddock said she has not heard from the women since the initial application was filed.
Calls to the group - Cathy Jo Ernest, Elizabeth Sharpe, Tracey Sabiers, Janice McClellan and Laura Einstandig - were not returned.
Several social Web sites and the HealthyChandler.com Web site claim they are supporting the "Healthy Chandler Act." But the latter site says the effort is "on hold."
The application requests voters to expand a portion of the city code that bans poisonous snakes and reptiles to include nonhuman primates.
Camilla Strongin, spokeswoman for Covance, said the women are part of an animal rights group trying different tactics.
"From a national perspective, this is not something that's necessarily been successful anywhere," she said.
Covance Inc., a global drug-testing company, began construction on its $100 million facility more than a year ago near Queen Creek and Gilbert roads in south Chandler. It is scheduled to open in January.
The FDA requires testing of drugs on several animal species, including monkeys, Strongin said. In May, when Covance held a private ceremony marking the final phase of building construction, Joe Herring, Covance's chairman and CEO, stressed his company's humane treatment of animals, which range from rodents to primates. |
