If you dont support slave labour and the destruction of our planet...read on...

Out now the book and website www.tescopoly.org

Tesco now controls over 30% of the grocery market in the UK. In 2008, the supermarket chain announced £2.8 billion in profits. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment. 


Tesco and Wal-Mart sell whale, dolphin and porpoise meat in their Japanese stores

As part of their bids for world domination, Tesco and Wal-Mart both own chains of stores in Japan. All these chains are currently selling the meat of whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans), although the ways in which they are hunted are unnecessarily cruel and in many cases illegal. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace are currently putting pressure on Tesco, Wal-Mart and the Japanese government to work towards ending these practices. 


In 2002, Wal-Mart purchased a 37% stake in Seiyu, Ltd., one of Japan's leading supermarket chains. Seiyu, Ltd. is a major distributor of whale, dolphin and porpoise products. Wal-Mart and Seiyu are intimately connected through corporate governance. Five of Wal-Marts key executives sit on the Seiyu Board of Directors, including the President and Executive Vice President of Wal-Mart's International Division.
 

In 2003, Tesco acquired a 94.54% shareholding in the Japanese food retailer C Two-Network, making the company a member of the Tesco group.

Both Seiyu and C Two-Network stores sell canned and fresh cetacean meats. This includes both whale and blubber meat from the 'scientific' research as well as small cetaceans from the coastal hunts. In 2003 the EIA carried out a survey which discovered that all the canned cetacean products were sourced from Japan's two major whaling companies, Nissui and Kyokuyo. These two companies own the majority of shares in Kyodo Senpaku, the company who leases whaling boats to the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research so they can carry out Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling policy. 

Clare Perry, EIA Cetacean Campaigns Manager, said: "C Two-Network stores are selling internationally protected species, and as such, are not only sustaining the market for these products in Japan, but are supporting Japan’s refusal to abide by the international ban on commercial whaling. Tesco, by association, could be seen by the public to be condoning these actions."


Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner, Richard Page said: "We are appealing to Tesco to use its ownership of C Two-Network to bring about an end to the sale of cetacean products in C Two-Network stores. Tesco’s UK customers will be appalled to learn that Tesco is so closely linked to the sale of whale meat."

Initially Tesco ignored queries from the EIA, but eventually responded by stating that 'it didn't want to impose Western values on its Japanese stores'. Its response to the Whale and Dolphin Preservation Society in 2003 on the issue of Iceland resuming whaling was somewhat different. 'We do not support the trade in whale products and would not wish to be linked to companies that are involved with this business' (28th August 2003) In April 2004, Tesco alleged that the stores selling the whale meat were subsidiaries of the C-Two Network, and not under their direct control. The EIA dispute this. Japan is considered to be a difficult and important market to get into among transnational grocery chains, and as a relatively recent entrant, Tesco may be wary of treading on anyone's toes. 

The EIA had a meeting with Tesco on 13th May 2004 to discuss the situation. According to EIA campaigner Clare Perry there was 'no conclusive outcome' to the meeting. The EIA gave Tesco a lot of information about whaling in Japan and the market for whale meat. It is now up to Tesco is to take this information on board and discuss it with C Two-Network. The EIA is not expecting any rapid progress on this issue, as it has taken five months to even get this preliminary meeting with Tesco. However, as Ms Perry said, 'we have at least started a dialogue, and are making it clear to Tesco that we won't accept anything less than a total cessation of whaling.'

In Autumn 2003 Iceland restarted whaling, also under the banner of 'scientific research' and also passing most of the proceeds of its 'research' on to companies who just happen to give them a lot of money in return and put said whales in cans on supermarket shelves. With Norway also continuing to kill whales in spite of the moratorium, perhaps it's time to get more angry and more active. 

For more info check out:

www.tescopoly.org
www.eia-international.org
www.greenpeace.org.uk