Whale Meat Sale Controversy

This week, online retailer amazon.com was under fire from animal-welfare advocates after the Environmental Investigation Agency and Humane Society International found 147 products containing whale meat—which was banned as part of an international moratorium on whale slaughter in 1982—on the site’s Japanese subsidiary. An EIA report summarizing the matter revealed that many of the products were derived from endangered whale species protected under the moratorium, sparking protests from animal-welfare and conservation groups. Additionally, the EIA found that many of the products contained potentially hazardous levels of mercury far exceeding Japanese limits. In response to massive public outcry, Amazon has since removed the products from its site.