JP-Dogs Bite Whales

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http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2003/2003-06-25-19.asp#anchor3

 

Dogs Bite Whales

 

LONDON, UK, June 25, 2003 (ENS) - Meat from whales

taken in Japan's scientific research whaling program

is being turned into pet food, according to research

by Professor Frank Cipriano, of San Francisco State

University, a pioneer of whalemeat identification

using DNA matching techniques.

 

Analysis carried out by Professor Cipriano on samples

of pet food purchased by the Environmental

Investigation Agency (EIA) near Tokyo, revealed both

Antarctic minke whale and dolphin meat.

 

In February, EIA purchased dog food products from

supermarkets in Shizuoka and Otsuchi, Japan. DNA

analysis showed that the dried dog food from Shizuoka

contained Antarctic minke and a packaged dog food

product purchased in Otsuchi contained dolphin DNA.

 

The new method for DNA analysis of highly processed

products, which was used to analyze fertilizer and pet

food samples, was presented to the Scientific

Committee of the International Whaling Commission

(IWC) at this year's annual meeting.

 

Based in London and Washington, DC, the Environmental

Investigation Agency, along with the UK based Whale

and Dolphin Conservation Society, and The Humane

Society of the United States, released evidence of the

whale meat in pet food at last week's IWC annual

meeting.

 

" The fact that Japan is using whale meat for pet foods

totally invalidates Japan's attempts to legitimize and

increase their catches, " said Clare Perry of the

Environmental Investigation Agency.

 

Japanese whaling fleets take a self imposed quota of

440 minke whales in the Southern Ocean and 440 minkes

in the North Pacific each year in addition to dozens

of sperm, sei, and Bryde's whales - all as part of the

scientific research whaling allowed under the

International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules.

 

The IWC requires that all meat left after research is

finished must be utilized, not discarded.

 

At the IWC meeting, Japan attempted to win a quota of

whales for coastal communities, but their bid was

defeated.

 

Sue Fisher of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation

Society said, " We hear the same rhetoric year after

year about distressed coastal whaling communities, and

now we find that whales are being used as pet food. "

 

More than 400,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales

have been killed in Japanese waters in the last 20

years, the three organizations estimate.

 

The whale meat, whether consumed by humans or animals,

will burden their bodies with a toxic load of mercury.

Analysis of meat from toothed whales sold for human

consumption in Japan, recently published by Japanese

researchers, revealed that 100 percent of these

products exceeded the allowed levels for mercury

content.

 

 

 

 

 

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