Minke whale
Following the decision on the 16th January by the Norwegian Government to lift its domestic ban on the export of whale products, five major Japanese consumer groups have called on the Norwegian Prime Minister to reverse the decision on account of the high levels of toxic chemicals found in Norwegian minke blubber.
A scientific study*, published by two Norwegian scientists in 1998, shows that the average levels of toxic PCBs in Norwegian minke whale blubber exceeds the maximum level allowed for marine food products in Japan.
Putting human health concerns to one side, the fact that minke blubber is contaminated to this degree further underlines how vital it is that whales remain fully protected and the trade ban in whale products is maintained. Whales are not only vulnerable to commercial hunting but also to man-made environmental threats such as toxic pollution.
* Organochlorine contaminants in Northeast Atlantic minke whales, Kleivane and Skaare, Environmental Pollution, vol. 101 (1998) pages 231-239
Don't bring dioxins and PCBs into Japan!
Japanese consumers protest to Prime Minister of Norway and call for Japanese
authorities to prohibit the import
On January 16th it was reported that the Norwegian Government will lift a domestic ban
on whale meat exports, allowing the sale of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of tonnes
of unwanted whale blubber to Japan (where its value is five times higher than in
Norway). Five major Japanese consumer groups are claiming that Norwegian whale
blubber greatly exceeds maximum contaminant levels set for food in Japan. They have
called on the Norwegian Prime Minister to reverse the decision and are demanding that
the Japanese authorities enforce laws which would prohibit the import or sale of the
blubber.
Thanks to the work of Japanese consumer protection groups like Safety First, the
Japanese public is becoming acutely aware of the risk of eating whales caught in
Japanese hunts. Recent studies reveal that more than half of whale products sold for
human consumption in Japan contained at least one pollutant type at a level above
regulatory limits for human food set by national and international authorities. Some
meat products have been found to contain levels of mercury that exceed maximum
levels by 1,600 times.
Blubber, which is processed into bacon and sells for high prices in Japan, is particularly
contaminated with PCBs, pesticides like DDT and dioxin group chemicals. Studies found
that 100% of blubber and bacon from North Pacific minke whales and 80% from
Antarctic minke whales eaten in Japan exceeded advisory limits set for consumption of
dioxin group chemicals. But this problem is not unique to Japan. Studies conducted by
Norwegian institutes identified an average concentration of 3.8 parts per million (ppm) of
PCBs in Northeast Atlantic Minke Whales. This exceeds Japanese legal limits by 7.6
times!
The consumer protection groups, who today delivered a letter to the Norwegian Prime
Minister via the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo, urged him not to allow the export of
whale blubber to Japan that could damage the health of human consumers. Mikiko
Hagiwara, spokesperson for Safety First said,
