Good news for some animals in Japan… One might have hoped that a country whose culture derives from a part-animist religion might be leading the way in such matters, but sadly it seems that it only reacts to developments elsewhere.
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Sacred roosters at Atsuta Shrine, spared the torture of vivisection or battery farm
Cosmetics giant Shiseido scales back animal testing
Japan Today MAR. 02, 2013 – 06:52AM JST ( 0 )
Japan’s Shiseido on Friday said it was mostly dropping animal-tested cosmetics, as the European Union gets set to finalize a sweeping ban on the sale of such products later this month. But the company said exceptions to the policy meant it would still allow animal testing when that was the only way of proving the safety of products already being sold in the market, and in some countries where animal testing is legally required.
The policy, which starts from April, applies to all of the Tokyo-based cosmetic giant’s production sites, including those run by suppliers, it said. “Our business partners that supply material to us will not rely on animal testing, while we will no longer outsource such testing to outside labs,” a Shiseido spokesman said. The policy was officially adopted at a board meeting Thursday, he added.
Activists have for years pressured cosmetic firms and other companies that use animal testing to find alternatives to the practice, which they say is cruel and unnecessary. Shiseido, which dropped animal testing at its own labs in 2011, sells into the key Europe market, which is getting set to complete a ban on the import and sale of animal-tested cosmetic products from later this month.
Shiseido said it could ensure the safety of its products through others means, including using data from past experiments, human volunteers and other kinds of testing.
– See more at: http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/cosmetics-giant-shiseido-scales-back-animal-testing#sthash.GkFKJTbf.dpuf
Animals belong in nature - not laboratories or cages
Dear John,
I have emailed you with a request for contact information for the two Shinto Priestesses over a week ago and am wondering if you got it. If not, kindly give me their contacts so that we may invite one of them to come and be a part of interfaith service at LOTUS (Light of Truth Universal shrine). Your website is proving to be very useful for us studying Shinto in Virginia at LOTUS. With much appreciation, Om Shanti
Swami Dayananda