LONDON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The threat to British commerce from domestic animal rights activists has become economically comparable to the threat posed by terrorists, a think tank says.
Aegis Defense Services, a London think tank, says in a report animal rights activists pose a compelling threat to the nation's $30 billion pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development industries, the Times of London reported Friday.
Aegis said the threat from animal rights extremists is economically comparable to that posed by Islamic terror groups like al-Qaida that seek to attack shipping lanes with containerized goods arriving in Britain from Asia.
"Single-issue terrorism and animal rights extremist terrorist activity in Europe will grow with more ambitious strategic targets ... and there are fascinating parallels between the economic agenda of al-Qaida and animal rights extremist networks," the report says.
"As the U.K. government and industry fail to act effectively against animal rights extremists, so the activists will maintain their momentum in establishing effective offshoots in a number of European countries, especially Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Russia," the report says.
