Unless I am the only academic contributing to the Questions and Answers on Yahoo, I would like to know whether there are others who share my views on the way our money coming from investment funds is made. I recently received the USS(Universities Superannuation Scheme) statement showing that GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical company engaging in animal research, is amongst the top five companies into which the USS invests. I wrote to the USS stating that I am unhappy to be benefiting from vivisection, and I asked them whether they think of disinvestment from this company. In their very polite reply they explained that the solicitors advised them that they are obliged to invest in a way that is in the best interest of the shareholders, and that they cannot decide entirely on ethical grounds. It was suggested that I may want to make contributions to appropriate charities, instead of relinquishing my part of the profit made from activities involving vivisection, which is what I wanted to do.
Paying someone to stand outside GlaxoSmithKline with a banner protesting against animal abuse, and pocketing a part of profits made from that very activity, does not seem the answer, to me. I was also assured that no other academic raised the same concern, to the USS knowledge. Admittedly, there are parts of the academic world that actually lead the animal research, but with thousands of academics in the UK, am I really the only one who feels this way?