I am against your proposed $291 million construction project that would bring a 173,000-square-foot research laboratory to Connecticut. While you claim that the Jackson Laboratory project will create 6,800 direct and indirect jobs over the next twenty years, you know and we know that you plan holds hidden dangers.

As state Rep. Chris Coutu, R-Norwich, points out, "the nonprofit lab won't pay real estate or corporate income taxes, and could even choose to abandon the facility that the state builds once the 10-year period expires." In addition, "Not only is the state prepared to spend $192 million to both build the Jackson Laboratory facility and furnish it with high-tech equipment, but it would also subsidize some of the initial research and agree to be left out of the royalties earned from any discoveries (Reindl, JC, The Day, 2011).”

Most troubling for those of us who are animal rights activists, however, is that in addition to doing its own animal-based research, Jackson Laboratory finances most of its operations through breeding and distributing mice for vivisection. Our research shows that this Bar Harbor, Maine-based lab produces and sells 2.9 million mice a year, in 6,000 different genetic strains to some 19,000 research facilities throughout the world. Theses animals are then subjected to unimaginably agonizing experimentation. Due to the limited number of investigators to oversee the conditions in laboratories, suffering animals often go unattended to. These tests are cruel and unnecessary. We do not want a breeding ground in Connecticut that would create animals for experimentation when non-animals models are available and more reliable. I do not support animal experimentation and as a constituent, I do not consent to my tax dollars being used to fund it. My next vote will reflect your disposition on this issue.

We therefore expect that you will abandon your plan to bring Jackson Labs to Connecticut. They are not wanted here. Please find a more humane way to generate jobs in our State.