FIVE women and two schoolgirls turned out in the pouring rain yesterday to protest against animal experiments outside a North-East industrial site.

Watched by security men and police, they were also filmed unfurling two banners outside the main entrance to the Wilton International site, near Redcar, east Cleveland.

The demonstration aimed to draw attention to Dow Chemicals' support of Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratories, in Cambridgeshire, where experiments are carried out on live animals.

Dow also has a plant on the Wilton site. Similar protests outside other Dow sites in the UK were planned yesterday.

A company spokesman said yesterday: "We keep animal research to an absolute minimum and continue to investigate reliable alternatives to animal testing that meet our own product stewardship requirements. Until such alternatives are accepted by regulatory agencies, we are compelled to comply with the testing requirements laid down by the law.''