A top representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claimed she was blocked from speaking at a public National Institutes of Health meeting earlier this month because she had previously posted flyers in the building, sparking a possible legal fight.
In a letter sent Wednesday morning and shared with Secrets, PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna said she had been invited to speak but was denied entry after arrival.
WHITE HOUSE REBUFFS CALLS FOR BIDEN TO SPEAK PUBLICLY ABOUT DOWNED FLYING OBJECTS
PETA claimed that it was a “violation of the First Amendment.”
In the letter, PETA threatened legal action if it is blocked from speaking at a future meeting, even though it is critical of how the agency handles its testing animals.
Here’s what PETA said in a statement:
- Dr. Chandna received a written invitation from the NIH to attend the National Advisory Mental Health Council’s open policy meeting on Feb. 7 in Bethesda, Maryland. The invitation assured her that, barring unforeseen “scheduling concerns,” she would be allowed up to five minutes to speak.
- “Given this cordial exchange, Dr. Chandna was shocked when she was unceremoniously — and discriminatorily — denied entry to the NIH Main Campus on February 7,” writes PETA Foundation litigation counsel Jeffrey Stein.
- NIH security guards informed Chandna that she was not allowed inside because she had previously posted, in public spaces on the campus, PETA flyers that were critical of the agency’s unethical treatment of monkeys, including keeping them in solitary confinement for years, frightening them with fake snakes and spiders, and inflicting irreversible brain damage on them.
- Pointing out that the NIH had violated the First Amendment by denying Chandna entry because of her critical views, Stein’s letter requests assurance from the agency that Chandna and other PETA staff “will not be unconstitutionally excluded from future NIH public meetings and from NIH facilities.”
