Japanese Scientist Reveals Study Showing That Taiji Residents have 10 Times Higher Mercury Levels Than Average Japanese Citizens

BREAKING NEWS:
Japanese Scientist Reveals Study Showing That Taiji Residents have 10 Times Higher Mercury Levels Than Average Japanese Citizens.

University of Hokkaido Professor Tetsuya Endo expresses alarm at the high levels of contamination among residents of Taiji, site of the killing of dolphins featured in “The Cove”. Dr. Endo is calling for “efforts to curb consumption of whale meat which is highly contaminated with mercury.”

Message From Ric O’Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins

The dirty secret of the largest slaughter of dolphins on Earth is that the dolphin meat being sold to an unsuspecting public in Japan is poisoned by mercury contamination.

We have brought this to public attention since we began our campaign four years ago. More recently our testing of dolphin meat and the mercury contamination issue (including the Japan government’s cover-up with a compliant media) is receiving global attention in the award-winning documentary “The Cove.”

In Taiji, Japan, the little town that slaughters a thousand dolphins a year and sells the meat in markets around Japan, one brave town council member, Mr. Yamashita, objected to the inclusion of mercury-laden dolphin meat in the town’s school lunch program, a PR gimmick by the dolphin-killers to get another young generation hooked on poisoned dolphin meat. Taiji dropped the school lunches, but unfortunately Mr. Yamashita has been shunned and left Taiji.

However, one of his legacies was a decision by the town council to test the mercury levels in Japanese citizens in Taiji. The results have been held up for months, but now enterprising reporters in Japan are bringing out the story.

The Japan-wide news service, Kyodo News, just published this story, picked up here by The Japan Times, which has been bravely printing the story of the dolphin slaughter and our Coalition work for several years.

The story states that Taiji residents, who eat dolphin meat, are showing mercury levels ten times higher than average Japanese.

The Japan media is finally getting out the story of mercury contamination in dolphin meat. As more stories appear, more reporters and editors will feel safe in investigating further.

Mercury-laden dolphin meat is a crisis that should bring an end to the dolphin slaughter in Japan, and not just in Taiji, but all across Japan.

We still have a long way to go to get this story out to the Japanese public and help organize the protest to their government to end the cover-up and the sale of dolphin meat.

I believe we are getting closer! And we will not stop until the dolphin slaughter ends, period.


Ric O’Barry


Here’s how you can help immediately:

1. Join our Call to Action to Ban the sale of dolphin meat immediately!
   Take action at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/ban-the-sale-of-dolphin-meat
2. Help us with a donation to get the word out in Japan. When the Japanese public sees The Cove, and realizes that the dolphin meat is poison, the killing will end. Click here to Donate
   
3. Go to www.savejapandolphins.org where you can sign up to be informed of the latest updates.
4. Read the full text of the Mercury Poisoning story at:
   http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/mercury-levels-of-whale-eating-towns-residents-10-times-japan-average

KYODO NEWS/THE JAPAN TIMES
Mercury levels of whale-eating town's residents 10 times average
Friday 22nd January, 06:40 AM JST

TOKYO —
Levels of mercury in hair samples of residents of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, which is known for customarily eating small whales caught by coastal whaling, are about 10 times the average in Japan, possibly due to consumption of whale meat with high concentration of mercury, one of researchers who conducted the survey said Thursday.

Hair samples were collected from 30 men and 20 women living in the whaling town with a population of about 3,400 through local collaborators between December 2007 and July 2008 for testing, Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, said.

The survey showed the average total mercury levels in the men’s and women’s hair samples were 21.6 parts per million and 11.9 ppm, respectively, while the levels of average Japanese men and women are 2.55 ppm and 1.43 ppm, he said.

The highest concentration level discovered in the survey was 67.2 ppm in a male aged in his 50s, as a total of three people exceeded the level of 50 ppm for no observed adverse effect set by the World Health Organization, Endo said.

Endo expressed alarm that contamination levels among some of the residents appeared to be high enough to develop health problems according to oversea standards.

‘‘It’s necessary to conduct more detailed research on their health conditions and the current status of contamination,’’ he said. ‘‘We should also make efforts to curb consumption of whale meat which is highly contaminated with mercury.’‘

The researchers, also including Koichi Haraguchi at Daiichi College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Fukuoka, will publish the survey result in an international science magazine on oceanic pollution.

According to Endo, the researchers also discovered high levels of mercury in products made from local marine mammals and fishes, such as pilot whales, dolphins, tunas and skipjack, distributed in and around the community.

In particular, the total contamination levels in the red meat from 22 samples of pilot whales, a cetacean commonly consumed in the town, averaged 9.6 ppm, with the level for methyl mercury alone coming to 5.9 ppm, both well beyond the tentative national regulation figures of 0.4 ppm and 0.3 ppm, respectively.

Among the 50 residents tested, the average total mercury level in those who eat pilot whale once a month or more was 24.6 ppm, while the levels in those who eat it only once every several months or not at all were 15.5 ppm and 4.3 ppm, respectively.

No epidemiologic survey has been conducted in Taiji although health hazards to the residents from the consumption of whale products are suspected, according to Endo.

© 2010 Kyodo News. All rights reserved.

What is happening in Taiji now?

By Helene O’Barry

Since the showing of the documentary The Cove, which exposes the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, many rumors have swirled around one question: Did The Cove stop the killing of dolphins in Taiji? Some media outlets have publicized statements that would lead the public to believe that dolphins are no longer being hunted there. Sadly, this is not the case. The killing of many dolphins, including bottlenose dolphins, still continues in Taiji. The policy of no killing of bottlenose dolphins apparently did not last long and was most likely nothing but a strategic short-term publicity stunt, aimed at reassuring the international media that bottlenose dolphins would no longer be killed. Bottlenose dolphins are being hunted and killed in Taiji again, along with many other species of dolphin.

It is important to remember that this is the world’s largest dolphin slaughter. Japan issues 23,000 permits annually to fishermen around its shores; in Taiji alone, 1,500 or more dolphins are slaughtered every year. It has been going on for more than 400 years, although the drive fishery has only gone on for the past 70 years or so, and of course the capturing of dolphins for aquariums and swim-with-dolphins programs is a modern, very lucrative addition.

It is not realistic to think that we, or anyone else, can shut it down before this year’s hunting season ends in March 2010. In order to once and for all stop the dolphin slaughter in Japan, The Cove must be viewed by the Japanese people. So far, it has not been. There are 126 million people in Japan. Less than 300 of them have seen the documentary so far. The work, therefore, is now about launching an effort within Japan to ensure that as many Japanese people as possible see The Cove.

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition is leading that effort, and we are currently finishing up the Japanese translations for The Cove and making copies to distribute around the country, particularly to decision-makers in Tokyo. Additionally, our Coalition will be screening copies around the major cities shortly. We are getting e-mails from people in Japan eager to help us spread the word.

Your donations help our efforts. We want to thank you for all your support. Help us reach those 126 million people in Japan by donating today:

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/donate.php

Working together with our friends in Japan and from all around the world, we can stop the killing. We are already seeing stories in the Japanese media that would never have appeared without our Save Japan Dolphins Campaign. The Japan Times, for example, recently printed a story listing ten important human rights issues in Japan — the Japan dolphin slaughter was number 9! Go to: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/fl20100105ad.html

We don’t know how long this campaign is going to take, but we are in it to win protection for all the dolphins and whales. You can count on that.

Save Japan Dolphins Coalition:
Earth Island Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, In Defense of Animals, Campaign Whale of the UK, and OceanCare of Switzerland

In Taiji, Japan, Fishermen in the Cove are Still Not Killing Bottlenose Dolphins, but They are Killing Other Species

By Ric OBarry, Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins Coalition
http://www.SaveJapanDolphins.org


Ive been here in Taiji, the small coastal town in Japan with the big secret, for several days now. I wanted to get a good idea of what is happening in the Cove, made infamous by the movie The Cove, recently released on DVD. It is imperative that I and my colleagues from Save Japan Dolphins Coalition are here on the ground regularly to judge what is happening and to document the truth that the Taiji dolphin killers and the Japanese government want to hide from the Japanese people and the world.

Ric O’Barry and his son, Lincoln O’Barry, are at the Cove in Taiji, Japan.
Photo by Kate Tomlinson.

The Taiji dolphin-killers, so far as we can tell, are still not catching any bottlenose dolphins for slaughter. Thats the good news. But obviously, this is largely a PR effort on the part of the fishermen to deny the truth shown in The Cove. They can say they are not killing Flipper, but they are butchering many of his dolphin cousins as many as they can get.

And the dolphin-killers are angry, too. They have physically assaulted several of us, although fortunately there have been no injuries. I was assaulted yesterday, but I got the assault on video. Tomorrow I will bring a copy to the police station and file a complaint against the dolphin killers. They will not intimidate me or our Save Japan Dolphins team that is here on site.

As depicted in the award-wining documentary The Cove, Japan issues 23,000 permits annually to slaughter dolphins. Here in Taiji, boats go out to sea and herd dolphin pods into a local cove, where nets are arrayed across the entrance to keep them captive. The dolphin killers work with aquariums from all over the world to pick out the best show quality dolphins for captivity. The rest are killed in the most horrible way imaginable, caught on hidden cameras in The Cove Movie. Roughly two to three thousand dolphins are killed here during the dolphin-hunting season, which runs from September to March.

Ric O’Barry at the Cove in Taiji, Japan.
Photo by Kate Tomlinson.

Sadly, in the Cove itself, I have found it is business as usual, despite the worldwide publicity against the dolphin slaughter. On Sunday, several False killer whales (a large dolphin) were captured and a few were taken by boat around the corner of the bay to the notorious Taiji Whale Museums floating holding cages on the other side. These whales will be trained and then sold for extremely high prices (as much as $150,000US each or more) to other aquariums for their captive dolphin shows. The rest of the pod, their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers, will be slaughtered tomorrow at dawn. There are also Rissos dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins in the Cove today as well, and they will die too tomorrow. My son Lincoln and I will be on hand to record it. My son and I are working on a new TV project, so we will have a way to show the world the reality here in Taiji.

We will continue to show our presence here, and we will continue to witness and record the brutal dolphin slaughters. We will also show The Cove Movie throughout Japan. We will spread the truth that the government has tried so long to cover up.

One of my goals here this week is to change some hearts and minds here in Taiji. It seems to me that this is ground zero for the fight to change the hearts and minds of all Japan. We know there are people here in town that object to the dolphin slaughter, and this week, I will have a chance to meet them. We have a Japanese version of The Cove DVD with us, and we plan to screen it discretely for as many local people as we can find who want to know the truth.

I want to thank all our supporters for their efforts to contact President Obama and other opinion leaders throughout the world, to contact the Japanese Embassies, and to give donations to our cause to help us with our expenses here in Japan. Your support means a lot to me and the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

Dolphins and small whales are still being killed in the Cove in Taiji, Japan.
Photo by Kate Tomlinson.

For further information about the Campaign to Save Japan Dolphins and to take action, go to our website:

http://www.SaveJapanDolphins.org

To donate to the Campaign, click here:

Thanks for all your help! We will stop the slaughter of dolphins in Japan -- I believe it is only a matter of time.

Save Japan Dolphins Coalition:
Earth Island Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, In Defense of Animals, Campaign Whale of the UK, and OceanCare of Switzerland

Cruelty in the Name of Tradition

By Helene O’Barry

A popular argument used by the dolphin hunters in Taiji when asked why they kill dolphins by the thousands every year is: “We’ve been doing this for hundreds of years; it’s our tradition.” Some people immediately accept this explanation and back off without asking any further questions. “If killing dolphins is their tradition, then it must be OK,” seems to be their line of reasoning, and it is a dangerous one -- it makes it too easy for those who inflict pain on others to continue doing it unchallenged.

The term “traditional dolphin hunt” glorifies the dolphin slaughter, creating images of proud men carrying out courageous deeds to ensure the survival of their tribes. But the dolphin hunters of Japan are part of modern society. They do not live in tribes, what they do requires no bravery, and they certainly are not proud of what they do, which is illustrated by the tremendous amount of time they spend hiding their activities from the world. Any person capable of forcing large groups of marine mammals into a tight space, from which there is no escape, can do this job. We have heard the dolphin hunters’ laughter as they held up their tools before turning to finish their work concealed behind tarp, barbed wire and chain link fences.

The dolphin hunters’ argument that the hunt is justified by being “traditional” illustrates a fundamental hypocrisy: While the dolphin hunters apparently want to waste time standing still and refusing to accept today’s knowledge about dolphins as an intelligent, self-aware and highly evolved species, they are not against progress as long as they can benefit from it. They use modern technology to carry out their so-called “traditional dolphin hunt,” thereby turning it into something entirely different from what it was hundreds of years ago. Taking advantage of high-speed motorized boats, radios and walkie-talkies, they are able quickly to locate and hunt down thousands of dolphins and other small whales during the six-month-long hunting season. But as soon as anyone questions the justification of the hunt, they immediately revert back to their argument of keeping things the way they have been for hundreds of years. So while the dolphin hunters hide behind “tradition,” their modern dolphin killing machine marches on, eradicating entire dolphin schools in its destructive path.

We urge everyone never to accept the term “tradition” as valid reason for any action. Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.

Toxic Dolphin Meat -- A Human Rights Issue

By Helene O’Barry

Much has changed since 2003 when Ric and I travelled to Taiji, Japan for the first time. Back then, dangerous confrontations with the Japanese dolphin hunters were common. Their aggression and hostility were enormous. Every day at sunrise when we showed up at the dolphin killing cove with our cameras and video recorders to film and expose the dolphin slaughter, the dolphin hunters would push us around and threaten to harm us. “Go home, or we’ll kill you,” they would say. It was easy for them to harass us: There were no witnesses to their actions. We pleaded with the media in Japan and other countries to come to Taiji and cover the story of the dolphin slaughter, but no one was interested. Sometimes it seemed as if we were the only ones who knew about the dolphin slaughter that goes on six months out of the year in this remote fishing village.

Ric O’Barry holds a package of dolphin meat purchased in a Japanese market.
Photo by Boyd Harnell.

We would campaign in Taiji and Futo for weeks at a time, and those were weeks filled with anguish and sleepless nights. It seemed impossible that we would ever be able to generate any interest for this issue on an international level. At that time, the issue of the dolphin slaughter was primarily one of animal cruelty, and the dolphin hunters loved it. They loved it because it was an approach they could argue against with relative ease. “You eat cows and pigs in the Western world. We eat dolphins, what’s the difference?” they would say.

Turning the dolphin slaughter into an issue of food culture gave them an argument that seemed valid to some. But that is not the case anymore. Things have changed. The keyword to that change is “poison.” The dolphin meat sold to an unsuspecting Japanese public is poisoned, contaminated with mercury, metylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxins that accumulate up the food chain. It is only a matter of time before the Japanese public realizes that the dolphin hunters, supported by their government, have been selling them poison to eat. How much mercury have the Japanese coastal populations consumed without knowing it? And how many more people will be poisoned before a ban on the sale of toxic dolphin meat is implemented? Now that science has proven the presence of high levels of toxins in dolphin meat, through the efforts of environmental groups including the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, the entire world will be watching and waiting for a reaction from the Japanese government.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Japan has a new Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Ms. Mizuho Fukushima. At a press conference held in Tokyo, Ms. Fukushima agreed to investigate the mercury issue. This gives us hope that the Japanese public will finally be told the truth about the poisonous dolphin meat, and that the meat will be pulled from shelves in supermarkets and never again be served in schools and workplaces. You can help our campaign by sending a message to Ms. Fukushima. Your letter can be short:

“Dear Ms. Mizuho Fukushima:

Scientific studies have demonstrated that dolphin and whale meat is highly toxic and not fit for human consumption, due to contamination from methylmercury, mercury, PCBs, and other poisons. Please prevent any further damage to the health of the Japanese people by banning the sale of dolphin and whale meat immediately.

Sincerely,

Your name and contact information.”

Please send your letter to:
Minister of the Consumer Affairs Agency
Ms. Mizuho Fukushima
Sanno Park Tower
2-11-1 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Japan 100-6178
Fax: +81-3-3500-4640
Keiko Ueda, legislative Aide to Ms. Mizuho Fukushima, Member of the House of Councillors, Social Democratic Party
E-mail:ukgo@jca.apc.org

The Cove Exposed - Issue 7

Dear Dolphin Savers,

I hope you will tune in this Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) to Larry King on CNN, 8 PM Eastern / 5 PM Pacific. Actor Ben Stiller and I will be Larry’s special guests to talk about the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign.

This is a real thrill for me, and a crucial way to spread the word. CNN will be broadcasting this story in 122 countries!

Also, The Cove movie has made the short list of 15 films being considered for an Oscar nomination (see "More Publicity" below).

Shortly after this Thanksgiving weekend in the US, I will be leaving my family once again to travel to Japan with the Save Japan Dolphins Team to screen The Cove in cities around the country and to bring copies of The Cove to Japanese decision-makers.

Thank you for your generous donations to help me and the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign fund these key trips.

In September elections, the Japanese voted in a new political party to replace the long-reigning LDP, which had run Japan since the 1940’s.

It is unclear whether the new Japan PM and his party will stop the slaughter of dolphins and whales. They are said to be opposed to government subsidies, which certainly SHOULD put Japan’s whaling scheme on the chopping block! Millions of taxpayer yen are wasted each year on sending the whaling ships to Antarctica for phony “scientific” research whaling, as well as millions more in bribes to small nations in return for their voting for whaling at the International Whaling Commission meetings.

Finally, the new party is very interested in protecting the environment. The threat of mercury poisoning should therefore resonate with them.

Recently, at a press conference, reporter Boyd Harnell confronted the new Minister of Public Health, Mizuho Fukushima, with the dangers of mercury-contaminated dolphin meat. He presented her with copies of some of his pioneer articles for The Japan Times and several scientific reports, including several provided by our Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

So we feel the time is right for Japan to finally end the slaughter of dolphins and whales, once and for all.

Once the people of Japan learn the truth about the dolphin slaughter through viewing The Cove and getting the scientific and educational information we provide, they will stop the slaughter – I am sure of it.

It won’t be easy, but you can rest assured that I will not give up, nor will my colleagues with the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

Thank you again for your support of our efforts to protect dolphins and whales in Japan. With your kind help, I know we will succeed.


Ric O'Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins Coalition

If you can help, please consider a tax-deductible donation: http://www.savejapandolphins.org/donate.php

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SPECIAL OFFERS:

The upcoming issue of Earth Island Journal features an exclusive story about Ric O’Barry and the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign. To receive a PDF electronic copy, click here:

One of our friends made me a beautiful nobori (a traditional Japanese banner) that says in Japanese "Save Japan's Dolphins." I'm bringing it with me to Japan to display all over the country. For those of you who are able to donate $100 or more, I will have your name inscribed on the banner as a sponsor of my trip. Thanks for being part of this growing list!



The upcoming issue of Earth Island Journal features exclusive interviews and in-depth stories about the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign. For a donation of $35, (or $100 for nobori sponsors) we will send you a copy of the Journal, and a full year's subscription.

TAKE ACTION:

Taiji fishermen have – quite amazingly – not killed dolphins yet this year. However, they are still killing pilot whales for meat and netting bottlenose dolphins for the international dolphin trafficking industry. We need to stop all killing of dolphins and whales, and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) must take action to stop their members from subsidizing the slaughter by buying choice specimens at outrageous prices for captivity and “swim-with-dolphins” programs. Go to our website and take action.

Want to do more? Get your friends and family to go to the website, host a house party, or Cove movie showing for the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

MORE PUBLICITY FOR OUR CAMPAIGN:

The Cove movie has made the short list of 15 documentaries being considered for final nomination for an Academy Award as Best Documentary next March. We salute Louie Psihoyos and the Oceanic Preservation Society for their incredible support for dolphins and their artistic achievement.

The British newspaper The Guardian did this wonderful editorial about The Cove.

Tokyo Press Conference Confronts Japan’s Food Safety Minister With Toxic Dolphin Meat

“Japan Minister Mizuho Fukushima at a Tokyo Press Conference.”
Photo by Boyd Harnell.

Journalist Boyd Harnell, who has covered the killing of dolphins in Japan for the Japan Times, recently confronted Japan’s new Food Safety Minister Fukushima, with the support of Sky TV’s Pio d’Emilia, with detailed evidence, some supplied by the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, on the poisoning of dolphin and whale meat on sale in Japanese supermarkets.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) held a press conference Wednesday, November 11th, to welcome Japanese politician Mizuho Fukushima, the new minister of food safety and general affairs, social affairs, and gender equality. Mainstream Japanese and foreign journalists with the print and broadcast media fielded questions related to her new position, including an interview by reporter Harnell related to the serious health issues revolving around the ongoing sale of highly toxic, mercury-tainted dolphin meat at retail outlets in Japan.

Mr. Harnell told Fukushima that the Japan Health Ministry has so far failed to mandate warnings on the labels of small cetacean meat, adding that mislabeling of dolphin meat as being whale meat was endemic throughout Japan. He also told Fukushima that two Taiji government officials condemned dolphin meat as toxic waste after they had conducted certified lab tests showing Taiji dolphin meat to be extremely high in mercury and methyl mercury
and said it had been formerly served at government-sponsored Taiji lunches for school children.

Harnell went on to point out that top Japanese medical researchers, Dr. Shigeo Ekino and Dr. Tetsuya Endo, also condemned the sale of dolphin meat for human consumption. He mentioned the high levels of mercury found in 50 Taiji residents that tested at ten times the national average for this toxic substance. The Japan Times contributing correspondent turned over ten certified lab reports of dolphin meat showing ballistic levels of mercury along with in-depth studies made by environmental organizations and scientific reports detailing the various toxins found in Japan's coastal dolphins sold for food to Japanese consumers.

Harnell asked if she would ban the sale of dolphin meat forever. Fukushima said she was aware of the high levels of mercury in Japan's dolphins and said she would address the issue and investigate studies made by scientists and environmental groups.

Ric O’Barry, Campaign Director for the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, stated: “Boyd Harnell’s efforts to bring the story of dolphin meat poisoning to the attention of Japanese officials has been outstanding. We really owe him and other brave journalists a great deal for challenging the media blackout in Japan over stories about dolphins and whales. Dolphin meat should not be eaten by anyone, and Japan must ban the slaughter of dolphins and whales to protect public health and preserve their ocean heritage.”

* * * * *

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition to stop dolphin and whale slaughter and stop dolphin trafficking consists of Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute, In Defense of Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, OceanCare of Switzerland, and Campaign Whale of the UK.