WHALE BLUBBER NORWAY SEEKING TO EXPORT FOUND TO BE CONTAMINATED

13 April 2000

NAIROBI/AMSTERDAM -- As Norway and Japan push to lift the current trade ban on whale meat and blubber at the 11th Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) this week in Nairobi, Kenya, Greenpeace revealed that a Norwegian study exists that shows the whale blubber Norway wants to export to Japan is so contaminated that it should not be sold legally in either country as food.

A report, published by two Norwegian scientists in 1998,(1) found that the average levels of toxic PCBs in Norwegian minke whale blubber exceed the maximum levels allowed for marine food products in Japan. (2)

"That Norway is pushing to resume trade in whale meat and blubber at all is appalling. That it is attempting to export blubber for consumption in Japan that it knows to be contaminated is beyond belief," said John Frizell of Greenpeace International.

Norway is particularly keen to export a 500 tonne mountain of whale blubber it has been accumulating to Japan as there is no Norwegian market for whale blubber. As a lobby group funded by the government of Norway said, ‘While the domestic market takes care of the meat, Norwegians do not have a palate for blubber.’ It added: ‘The export ban has resulted in several hundred tonnes of blubber being stockpiled.’ (3)

The whale meat market in Japan was rocked by scandal in October 1999 when 61 samples of whale meat were analysed to determine their species and their toxicity. Over one quarter of the samples tested for organochlorines (including PCBs and DDTs) contained levels exceeding national or international regulatory limits and a quarter of the samples were not of the species stated. (4)

"That the blubber is contaminated to this degree further underlines how vital it is that whales are protected and the current ban on trade remains intact. It is clear that whales are vulnerable not only to commercial hunting but to environmental threats," added Frizell.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Matilda Bradshaw (Nairobi) on +254 (2) 72 526 285 or the Greenpeace International press desk (Amsterdam) on +31 20 524 9515

Follow CITES on the web: www.greenpeace.org/~oceans/cites

(1) 'Organochlorine contaminants in northeast Atlantic minke whales,’ Kleivane and Skaare, Environmental Pollution, vol 101 (1998) pages 231-239.

(2) The report found that average levels of PCBs in whale blubber were 3.8 ppm. The maximum level recorded was 20.8 ppm, the minimum was 0.6 ppm. ‘ppm’ means parts per million. The highest level allowed for total PCBs in marine products marketed in Japan is 0.5 ppm.

(3) Quote from ‘Trade in minke whales – conservation in action,’ by the High North Alliance. The High North Alliance recently received a grant in excess of 80,000 US$ from the Government of Norway on the condition that it was all spent by the end of COP 11.

(4) Safety First report ‘Dangerously Contaminated Whale Meat on Sale in Japan’ March 2000.

PCBs are persistent organic pollutants (POPs), among the most toxic chemicals known to man. POPs are particularly resistant to natural breakdown and accumulate in the fatty tissues of both humans and animals. Mammals that are higher up the food chain, such as whales, are particularly vulnerable to POPs. PCBs are on the UNEP list for urgent action.