(AU/JP)Whale Meat Toxics Ignored in Push for Commercial Whaling

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http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-15-02.html

 

Whale Meat Toxics Ignored in Push for Commercial

Whaling

 

CANBERRA, Australia, April 15, 2002 (ENS) - The latest

scientific research has cast " a disturbing light " on

the Japanese Whaling Association's push to encourage

young people to eat more whale meat, says Australia's

Parliamentary Secretary for the Antarctic, Dr. Sharman

Stone.

 

" It is very surprising that the Japanese are

encouraging the eating of whale meat with shoppers

queuing for free samples of canned whale stew, deep

fried whale meat and blubber recipes in downtown

Tokyo, " Dr. Stone said Friday.

 

Japanese officials distributed the whale meat in

Tokyo's youth fashion district on National Whale Day

April 9, to stimulate support for a resumption of

commercial whaling. A detailed management plan for

commercial whaling is on the agenda for the May

meeting of the International Whaling Commission set

for Shimonoseki, Japan, a whaling town.

 

Hundreds of people lined up to taste the free whale

meat samples, usually a costly delicacy.

 

" Unfortunately, " said Dr. Stone, " what these

unsuspecting consumers probably received was a

cocktail of toxins and contaminants that have made

their way into our seas and oceans, particularly

during the last 50 years. "

 

" We now know from work done by Dr. Roger Payne at the

Whale Conservation Institute, who has been studying

and documenting whales for the last 28 years, that

chemicals have not only made their way into the sea

but have made their way up the food chain and into the

bodies of whales, " she said.

 

Dr. Payne, who has led over 100 expeditions to all

oceans and studied every species of whale in the

world, has warned that the highest concentration of

endocrine disrupting compounds ever found in any

animal came recently from a minke whale, the species

presented for free tasting to Tokyo lunchtime

shoppers.

 

" Unfortunately, " said Dr. Stone, " the chemical

revolution of the last century has produced synthetic

contaminants not found in nature, to use in a range of

pesticides, fertilizers and other products. These

substances wash from the land into the sea. Endocrine

disrupting compounds are highly toxic, chemically

stable and long lived. They are also usually far more

soluble in fats than water. "

 

" Because air and water current disperse the endocrine

disrupting compounds polewards, " Dr. Stone said,

" polar people and animals have the highest

accumulations. Whales have great difficulty in

disposing of these toxins from their bodies - so where

do these contaminants end up? In the whale meat being

served at this very moment to Japanese consumers, of

course, " she said.

 

" Not only is this meat now highly contaminated, but it

is clear from press reports of the whale meat giveaway

that Japanese consumers do not believe they are

missing out. Surveys consistently show that young

Japanese consumers have not embraced whale meat and

are disturbed by the methods used to kill whales, " Dr.

Stone said.

 

But on March 16, the Prime Minister’s office and the

Japan Fisheries Agency released the results of a

public opinion survey showing public support for

whaling.

 

Masayuki Komatsu, Councillor at the Fisheries Agency

said, “Whaling and whale meat are an integral part of

the culture of a number of locations in Japan. It is

therefore no surprise that the strong public support

for whaling shown in past surveys has been

reconfirmed.”

 

The survey conducted in December 2001 by the Cabinet

Office of the Government of Japan showed more than 75

percent support for whaling " managed in a rational and

sustainable way, " the Fisheries Agency said.

 

When asked whether scientific research was required to

study the impact of whales on fisheries the government

reported that 81.3 percent said that such research was

" necessary or may be necessary " while only 6.9 percent

said that such research was not necessary or might not

be necessary.

 

More than 87 percent of respondents said that they had

eaten whale meat.

 

Dr. Stone warned that these people may not know about

the accumulation of toxics in whale meat. " It is

important that the Japanese Whaling Association

informs whale meat consumers about the toxicity levels

found in some meat and blubber of the product that

they are trying to encourage their consumers to eat, "

she said.

 

" This is a serious human health issue. At the same

time they should also be concerned about the Japanese

fleets killing of whales for 'research' in Antarctica,

when non-lethal methods can deliver the same data that

will help protect the species. "

 

One scientific group meeting in advance of the

International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting the

week of May 20 will review the numbers of minke whales

currently swimming in Antarctic waters.

 

Under a scientific research provision of IWC rules,

the Japanese whaling fleet takes a self-assigned

annual quota of 440 minke whales from the Southern

Ocean, in a process it calls " sampling. "

 

In addition, over the past two years, a total of 140

minke whales, 93 Bryde’s whales and 13 sperm whales

were " sampled. " A proposed program involves sampling

of 150 minke whales, 50 Bryde’s whales, 50 sei and 10

sperm whales each year in the North Pacific.

 

A provision of IWC regulations requires that whales

taken for scientific research must be used rather than

discarded. Japan sells this whale meat as sushi, whale

bacon, canned whale stew and other food items.

General of the Institute of Cetacean Research

in Tokyo, Dr. Seiji Ohsumi, says, “Japan’s plan to

increase its whale research program is based on urgent

scientific need to collect data on the competition

between whales and fisheries,” said Dr. Ohsumi.

 

“It is estimated that whales consume three to five

times the amount of marine resources as are caught for

human consumption, so our whale research is providing

valuable information required for improving the

management of all our marine resources.”

 

“These species were chosen because they are abundant

in the north Pacific and they are very large animals –

this means they consume huge amounts of marine

resources,” Ohsumi said.

 

But consuming whale meat may be hazardous to human

health because of the endocrine disrupting compounds

long lived whales have accumulated in their tissues,

Australia's Dr. Stone maintains. " Every time an animal

consumes a plant or another animal containing these

compounds it accumulates the chemicals. The longer you

live, the more you accumulate, " she said. " Mammals

such as whales, and humans, pass the substances on to

their fetuses and to their infants as the babies drink

the mother's milk.

 

In a paper delivered in Sydney in March, Dr. Payne

presidented evidence that endocrine disrupting

compounds can inhibit fetal development, disturb

reproductive organs, compromise immune systems and

cause neural damage.

 

© Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights

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