Taiji Dolphin Killers Accused of Selling Poison Meat
Japanese government officials say eating "toxic waste" is a serious health hazard

The newspaper Japan Times recently ran a story about Junichiro Yamashita and Hisato Ryono, two city council members from the whaling town of Taiji who publicly condemned the consumption of mercury-poisoned pilot whale meat, especially as it is used in Japan's school lunch programs. World-renowned dolphin expert Ric O'Barry and Sakae Hemi from the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, of which IDA is a member, deserve much of the credit for breaking this amazing and unprecedented front-page story.

This is the first time that Japanese elected officials have openly stated that dolphin meat is unfit to eat because it contains dangerously high levels of mercury and methylmercury, which can cause irreversible brain damage and severe birth defects. Yamashita and Ryono bought dolphin meat samples at area supermarkets and brought them to a lab for testing, the results of which shocked them so much that they referred to the marine mammal flesh as "toxic waste."

All of the meat samples were contaminated, and the mercury in one of them was more than 15 times higher than the Japanese health ministry's advisory level, and had 12 times as much methylmercury. This amount of mercury is more deadly than was found in some of the seafood tested during Japan's Minamata poisoning epidemic of the 1950s, which ultimately claimed over 1,700 lives. Dr. Shigeo Ekino, a world-renowned Minamata researcher, told reporters that "Everyone should avoid eating dolphin meat. If people continue to eat dolphin, there's a high probability of them having damage to their brains."

The Japanese government has known about the health risks posed by dolphin meat for years, and is legally bound to take it off the market when the mercury content exceeds the official advisory level. However, despite warnings from scientists and now Japanese legislators, the government refuses to protect their citizens' health by standing up to the dolphin meat industry. On the contrary, the government continues to support Taiji's plan to construct a new dolphin meat processing facility, and has no plans to strike dolphin meat from school cafeteria menus, even though Japan's largest supermarket chain permanently removed dolphin meat from their stores earlier this year.

What You Can Do

- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international treaty protecting dolphins and other wildlife from extinction due to over-exploitation and international trade. Please "Take Action" to urge CITES to halt the trafficking of live dolphins.

- While people's health is seriously threatened by dolphin meat consumption, the drive fisheries taking place every year in Japan cause unimaginable suffering for the dolphins and whales herded into harbors and sliced open with knives. See for yourself in a short video produced by the Save the Japan Dolphins coalition. Be aware that some of the imagery is very graphic.

Learn more about IDA's efforts to stop the Japanese drive fisheries.