Leading UK retailer, Tesco PLC, has been closely linked to the sale of products from Japan's controversial hunting of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans), revealed the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace today.
EIA investigations have revealed that C Two-Network, a Japanese supermarket chain and a member of the Tesco Group, sells canned cetaceans products in 32 of its 78 stores and fresh cetaceans products in 10 stores. Tesco purchased more than 95% of the Japanese company in July 2003.
The canned products are sourced from the Nissui and Kyokuyo whaling companies. These companies own shares in the whaling fleet used for Japan's self-professed 'scientific' whaling research and sell much of the meat from the hundreds of minke, Bryde's and sei whales that are killed each year in the name of science. According to staff working at the supermarkets, C Two-Network also sells fresh meat from 'toothed whales', a generic term for dolphins, porpoises, and small whales hunted in Japan's coastal waters.
Japan's scientific whaling has been strongly and repeatedly criticised by the UK Government and the international community and is widely recognised as commercial whaling. Japan's coastal hunting of dolphins, porpoises and small whales is poorly regulated and unsustainable. Meat and blubber products from these hunts typically carry levels of methylmercury or PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) that exceed government recommended limits, posing a health threat to the consumer.
Clare Perry, EIA Cetacean Campaigns Manager said: "C Two-Network are selling internationally protected species, and as such, are not only sustaining the market for these products in Japan, but are supporting Japan's refusal to abide by the international ban on commercial whaling."
Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner, Richard Page said: "We are appealing to Tesco to use its ownership of C Two-Network to bring about an end to the sale of cetacean products in C Two-Network stores. Tesco's UK customers will be appalled to learn that Tesco is so closely linked to the sale of whale meat."
Notes to Editor:
- The Environmental Investigation Agency is a London and Washington, DC based independent, international campaigning organisation committed to investigating and exposing environmental crime, and campaigning to protect endangered species and the natural world.
- Greenpeace is an international organization that campaigns for the protection of the environment.
- In July 2003, Tesco Holdings BC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesco PLC, purchased 95.54% of C Two-Network shares, making C Two-Network a member of the Tesco Group.
- C Two-Network is a Japanese food retailer operating 78 stores based around the Tokyo metropolitan area of Japan, trading under the brand names Tsurukame, Tsurukame-Land, Foodlet Tsurukame, and Kamechuru.
- A Japanese researcher telephoned 78 C Two-Network stores: 32 admitted selling canned whale products, 10 admitted selling fresh products and 10 did not answer. An on-site visit to six stores revealed the sale of fresh products in two stores and canned products in three stores.
- Chemical analysis of one product labelled as "whalemeat from Hokkaido", on sale in a Tsurukame Land store in Chiba, showed mercury levels of 0.95ppm (parts per million), more than two times higher than Japanese government allowable levels for human consumption. This high level of mercury suggests the package contained meat from a toothed whale, dolphin or porpoise, most likely Dall's porpoise or Baird's beaked whale.
- The International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented a moratorium on all commercial whaling in 1986. Japan kills around 150 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales in the North Pacific and 440 minke whales in the Antarctic each year in the name of "science".
- The Government of Japan also allows up to 22,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales to be caught each year around the Japanese coast in unregulated and unsustainable hunts.
- round one-third of the products labelled as "whale" on sale in Japan are likely to be dolphin, porpoise or small whales hunted in coastal waters.
- Symptoms of methylmercury poisoning can include impaired vision, speech and hearing, loss of coordination, reproductive disorders, paralysis, severe cases resulting in coma or death.
For more information, please contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
