WDCS uncovers secret plans to manufacture new products from whale oil

Profiteering the real reason behind whalers’ desire to lift the ban says WDCS

With a decision on the lifting of the current ban on commercial whaling just days away, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) has released a new report today which exposes the cynical reason behind the desire by Norway, Iceland and Japan to lift the 24-year and revive a dying industry – profit. The WDCS report, entitled Reinventing the Whale, details the long-term, secret plans by Japan (together with Norway and Iceland) to research and develop new commercial applications for whale oil once the ban has conveniently been swept aside. The report exposes a strategy to revive a flagging industry by exploiting new markets for a myriad of whale-based products, for example: - Norway is investing in clinical research of whale oil for pharmaceutical and health supplement (nutraceutical) applications, as well as for animal feed. Norwegian scientists are conducting clinical trials of whale oil on rheumatoid arthritis and studying its effect on Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, and cardiac disease. -Japan is mining whales for cartilage to produce chondroitin (used to treat osteoarthritis), oligosaccarides (a common food additive) and collagen (used in beauty treatments and as an anti-inflammatory). Japanese whale chondroitin and sperm whale myoglobin are already being sold to researchers worldwide. -Iceland is planning to use stockpiles of whale products from its vastly expanded fin whale hunts to resume the manufacture of whale meal to feed farmed fish and livestock. Sue Fisher, whaling campaign lead for WDCS said, "It is clear that the whalers are planning to use whale oil and other whale derivatives to restore their hunts to long-term profitability. Iceland, Japan and Norway are betting heavily that the commercial whaling moratorium will be lifted, and that trade in whale-based products will soon be allowed." The decimation of whale populations by unsustainable commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th century was driven, not by demand for whale meat, but for blubber and other fatty tissues, which were rendered into complex oils to provide ingredients for a rapidly industrializing world. Whale oil was used in the manufacture of animal feed, machine lubricants, soap, detergents and margarine, while spermaceti from the sperm whale became a staple in cosmetics and, later, even as a lubricant for the aerospace programme. A WDCS analysis of current approved patents held around the world, many of which are granted for international use, underscores that whale oil and its derivatives would be viable ingredients in a vast array of common products, including detergents and food additives, if international trade in whale oils and waxes were permitted again. WDCS trade expert, Kate O’Connell, added, "The decade of legitimacy for commercial whaling proposed by the IWC provides an incentive to the whalers to keep their industries afloat, and will allow them time to complete their research and development of new whale products. We anticipate they will use these new pharmaceuticals, animal feed and personal care products to soften global opposition to whaling and challenge the international ban on international trade in whale products by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which defers to the IWC". To prevent another "oil rush" on whales, and a return to the dark days of industrial whaling, WDCS believes that it is imperative that reform of the IWC include a swift phase-out to zero of all commercial, including scientific, whaling, backed by a permanent ban on international commercial trade in whale parts and derivatives and the immediate removal of all CITES reservations relating to whales. -Ends-