Victory! Japan’s Largest Candymaker Ends Experiments on Animals
Victory! After discussions with PETA U.S., Morinaga & Co.—Japan’s largest confectioner and maker of HI-CHEW candy, has ended all animal tests that are not required by law.
The company had previously conducted cruel and archaic tests in order to make dubious health claims about its food products, including passion fruit seed extract, aloe vera, and grape extract. During experiments published by the company starting in 2016, nearly 100 mice and rats were force-fed, starved, irradiated, and injected with chemicals. The animals were then killed (by having their necks broken) and dissected.
PETA U.S. wrote to the candymaker to point out that these tests weren’t required by law, the results couldn’t be applied to humans, and the ingredients being tested had no toxicity concerns. In effect, there was no reason the tests couldn’t be conducted using human subjects or other high-tech, non-animal testing methods.
Morinaga follows in the footsteps of other major food and beverage companies (such as Asahi Group Holdings, Barilla, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Ensuiko Sugar Refining Co., Ezaki Glico, Fuji Oil Holdings, General Mills, The Hershey Company, House Foods, ITO EN, James White Drinks, Kewpie Corporation, Kikkoman, Lindt & Sprüngli, Lipton, McCain Foods, Megmilk Snow Brand, Meiji Holdings, Molson Coors Brewing Company, NH Foods, Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ocean Spray, PepsiCo, POM Wonderful, Riken Vitamin, Sapporo Holdings, Satake Corporation, Suntory Holdings, T. Hasegawa Co., Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., Welch’s, and Yakult Honsha) that made the decision to prohibit barbaric tests on animals.
What You Can Do
Go cruelty-free! The best way to stop companies, universities, and charities from using animals is to refuse to purchase their products or give them donations. Write to tell them that they won’t receive your support until they stop testing on animals.
Take a stand against animal testing by pledging to support only cruelty-free companies and charities. You can find out which of your favorite products are animal-friendly by searching PETA U.S.’ online database of companies that do and that don’t test on animals.
