(JP) Ban sought on Norway whale meat

May 8, 2002

Ban sought on Norway whale meat

Concerned consumers and antiwhaling groups on Tuesday

petitioned the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to

abandon the idea of allowing whale meat to be imported

from Norway because of potentially high levels of

pollution.

" We fear this is potentially dangerous food and

question whether importing it is really necessary, "

said Takehiro Masuyama of Safety First. " Today we

called on the ministry to only consider imports (of

whale meat) after confirming its safety. "

The nongovernmental organizations said they were

especially concerned about mercury and polychlorinated

biphenyls.

Government officials said they are cobbling together a

system for testing meat exported from Norway and hope

to test at least one sample from each whale imported.

The nongovernmental groups also expressed doubts about

Japanese mercury and PCB food standards, pointing out

they were created nearly 30 years ago and are much

less stringent than those in other countries.

Officials said it is currently reviewing its pollution

standards but has no timeline for revising them.

The groups released a Greenpeace Germany study of

blubber from minke whales killed by Norwegian whalers

that averaged 3.7 parts per million of PCBs, exceeding

Japan's food safety standard of .5 parts per million

for offshore animals and 3 ppm for coastal fish.

The Fisheries Agency is working with the Norwegian

government on a framework to allow whale meat to be

imported later this year.

The Japan Times: May 8, 2002

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