Phone: 03 3238 638 1-7 Fax: 0081 3 323
Address: Huntingdon Life Sciences Co. Ltd., Bancho Kaikan, 12-1 Gobancho, 2-Chome, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 102-0076 11 Oct 2003
SHAC Comes to Japan
Today Japanese companies are amongst the world's largest funders of experiments on animals. While most Japanese people may either not be aware of, or may choose to ignore the shoddy science behind such experiments there is a small band of Japanese activists who are starting to challenge the Japanese companies involved. They are joining a determined movement of direct action activists who have been battling against animal exploitation in Europe and North America and who are currently targeting Japanese companies for what they describe as their "most savage campaign yet."
A serious battle has been raging in Europe and North America between animal rights activists and large corporations for many years. It has been violent, people have been imprisoned, thousands have demonstrated and many have been seriously injured or had their property destroyed. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) are the two main organizations responsible for what is sometimes called "terror." ALF is more of a dis-organisation, without members as such; anyone who "liberates" animals can claim to be part of it. It's more of a direct action/vegan philosophy than an organization. SHAC, on the other hand, is a well-organized global campaign which was formed in Britain in 1999.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was established in 1999 by a group of activists who had successfully shut down Consort kennels, near Hereford, and Hillgrove cat farm, near Witney, Oxfordshire. SHAC has the sole aim of putting Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) out of business. SHAC chose to target HLS, on the basis that they were guilty of "serious animal abuse, bad science and filling the market with extremely dangerous chemicals and pharmaceuticals."
SHAC and its global campaign against HLS is the first of its kind. The four year old campaign has seen HLS share values plummet and HLS has been abandoned by many of its customers. SHAC insist that politicians are not only useless but that they directly hinder safe scientific progress, good quality healthcare and justice. They see direct action as the only way to achieve a safer and juster society. Stating that "If this means that some people must step outside of the law to save animals, then so be it."They promise to make this next part of their campaign "the most savage of all."
But why are they bringing this savage campaign to Japan? SHAC claim that "Japanese companies are responsible for 20% of HLS's income and 20% of the animal suffering and killings in HLS." They believe that "the Japanese culture is such that any actions taken against them [Japanese Customers] have more impact." HLS themselves admit their "strong association" with the 30year old Japanese market is their "most important."
About HLS
HLS was founded in Cambridgeshire (UK) in 1952. With a business that now spans across the world, it is today a leading provider of toxicology studies, and one of the world's largest Contract Research Organizations. The majority of HLS's business comes from assessing "food additives and a whole range of consumer chemicals."
They profess to have "helped to shape the safety testing industry as we know it today." They house over 70,000 animals on their testing sites and dispose of 500 "sacrifices" (vivasectionists do not like to use the word killed) every day.
Companies such as Sumitomo, Sankyo, Asahi Denka, Daiichi and Yamanouchi are of particular interest for their involvement in HLS. Numerous undercover investigations into HLS have revealed Japanese ties to some of the worst animal abuse seen in Britain. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) went undercover into HLS (US) in 1997, at the same time Channel 4 (a highly respected British Channel) went undercover into HLS (UK). In 2000 The Daily Express, a popular British tabloid, went undercover. At the same time an anonymous investigator leaked HLS customer details and video footage. In 2003 The Observer, a highly respected broadsheet, also went undercover. Every investigation revealed horrendous treatment of animals, exceptionally bad scientific practices, staff incompetence, non-existent government inspection and a large amount of Japanese investment. Sumitomo shipped primates from Mauritius for use in HLS. Sankyo paid for Beagle puppies to be fed Hymexazol and Pyrimidifen, a fungicide and an insecticide. They paid for an LD50 test (Lethal Dose 50), where the dose is increased until 50% of the study subjects are poisoned to death, the remaining 50% are "sacrificed" later regardless of the study outcome. During a Daiichi funded experiment 32 dogs were killed and HLS staff were filmed punching some of the dogs in the face. Yamanouchi paid for a 52 week long "Chronic Toxicology" study on dogs where the suffering increased daily, they then asked HLS to break the legs of 37 dogs. The HLS vet was recorded as complaining that any results gained from the experiment would be useless as the dogs were "crap." The list of Japanese companies and their involvement in animal abuse goes on and on.
The Science
HLS and their Japanese customers claim that animal experiments are necessary for medical advancement. SHAC and ALF have pointed out that animals cannot communicate the side effects they experience and that while lemon juice is poisonous for animals it's essential for humans, and while penicillin and insulin are safe for humans they are deadly for animals. Whichever point you choose to argue, whether it is the value of animal experiments or the value of nuclear power, scientists views can be found to support anything. It is important that all of us have a critical mind and have access to independent investigations. While HLS and its company customers have lots of money to make, what does SHAC and ALF have to gain except police harrasment? My investigation has led me to ask the question: Why, if animal experimentation is vital for medical advancement, are all of the experiments conducted into food additives which we don't even need in our food?
Regardless of what I think, say, or write one of SHAC's "Japanese Global Weeks" has passed and others are on thier way. Apart from targeting Japanese company offices in Europe and North America, they have also conducted phone and e-mail blockades on Daiichi, Yamanouchi, Sankyo, Asahi Glass and Shin-Etsu here in Japan. They are determined and confident and they are coming to Japan. The campaign is ongoing and will not finish until the Japanese companies pull out of HLS.
I Call The Companies Involved
I contacted several of the companies targeted by SHAC to see what they thought. Daiichi couldn't find an English speaking person in their company. Asahi Denka admitted that "HLS was a problem." Sumitomo denied any knowledge of or involvement with HLS, then claimed not to understand what animals are or where England is.
The anonymous customer service advisor at Sankyo denied any knowledge of what his company did for a business. The Japanese sales office for HLS kept me on hold for 10-15 minutes only to state "no comment" It seems the targets of SHAC are very worried. Not surprising, as ALF has well and truly started its campaign against Japanese companies. Offices, homes, cars and company directors have been hit in dozens of attacks this week alone.
The campaign to stop unnessesary suffering and the release of dangerous chemicals onto the market purly for profit will not stop.