日本消費者連盟
すこやかないのちを未来へ
Sound and Healthy Future for Our Children

Japan Resources – 185

Please click here for our latest English newsletter: JR 185

From the Editors: Growing Movement

Exposing Fragrance Pollution in Japan

Violating Consumers’ Right to Know and Choose

Essay: Unexpectedly…

From the Editors: Growing Movement

Welcome to issue No. 185 of Consumers Union of Japan’s English newsletter. The theme of this issue is “Exposing Fragrance Pollution in Japan” where we discuss the problem and the growing movement trying to deal with it. CUJ and other organisations have been acting as a principal driver of the movement for the last several years.

We also have an update on the Japanese government’s assault on consumers’ right to know and choose, as it moves to make certain popular, and useful, food labels illegal, including GMO-free labels.

We hope you will stay updated with CUJ’s activities and news on our English website, as well as on our English Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/consumerunionjp/

By fridfrid | 27/05/2022 | Biotechnology, Chemical pollution, Environment, Food Additives, Japan Resources |

Exposing Fragrance Pollution in Japan

By Yuri Kitagawa

A large number of people in Japan suffer from fragrance pollution. The main culprits include laundry products, especially scented fabric softeners, but also fabric refreshers, air fresheners, and antiperspirants.

The number of those affected is thought to be a few million and possibly as many as 10 million. Symptoms are headaches, nausea, diarrhea, asthma, dizziness, eye-ache and worse. Some people reach points where they are unable to go to school or work and in extreme cases, they are forced to escape to uninhabited areas and live deep in the mountains.

In 2017, Consumers Union of Japan (CUJ) and its Soap/Detergent Group set up a Fragrance Pollution Helpline, which led to the creation of the Network to Stop Fragrance Pollution with six other citizen’s organisations, and together the Network has engaged in numerous activities.

Even if one is not a user of scented products, fragrance pollution is impossible to escape as polluted air reaches inside homes from laundry being dried in neighbours’ gardens and on balconies, or from exhaust vents connected to clothes dryers. Also, cold water is commonly used in washing machines which can be the cause of leaving more garment softener chemicals attached to the clothes’ fabric. Since the whole atmosphere, especially inside buildings, is polluted, going out means coming back drenched in fragrances and other chemicals.

(more…)

By fridfrid | 27/05/2022 | Chemical pollution, Civil Rights, Environment |

Violating Consumers’ Right to Know and Choose

By Michiyo Koketsu, Co-Chairperson, Consumers Union of Japan

In Japan, the food labeling system has been undergoing continuous deterioration over the past several years. How is it that the government has gone from leaving consumers scratching their heads over unclear labels, to violating our right to know and choose? It all started in 2015, when the food labeling system, which previously fell under a number of jurisdictions, was consolidated into the Food Labeling Law and placed under the Consumer Affairs Agency. They promptly established study groups to discuss the labeling of the origin of ingredients in processed foods, the labeling of food additives, and the labeling of genetically modified foods, but neither took into account the demands proposed by Consumers Union of Japan (CUJ). The Consumer Affairs Agency has ignored our calls for a better labeling system for consumers while making the labeling system convenient for corporations.

(more…)

By fridfrid | 27/05/2022 | Biotechnology, Food, Food Additives |

Stop the Cultivation of GM Rice

Strong International Solidarity Can Stop the Cultivation of GM Rice and New GMO Rice

We send a message of solidarity from Japan to all those who are fighting to stop the cultivation of Genetically Modified Yellow Rice (Golden Rice) in the Philippines.

The increased domination of seeds by multinational corporations is being extended to the control of food and agriculture on a global scale. International organizations such as IRRI and national governments are supporting this escalating trend. In addition, there is a growing movement toward the cultivation of GMOs and New GMOs in staple foods, taking advantage of the Covid virus pandemic disaster.

We understand that in the Philippines, the cultivation of GM Yellow Rice is currently being pushed forward. In Japan, the application of genome-edited rice is also under consideration. In addition to seed domination, we regard these technologies as a direct threat to biodiversity and our food security.

We call this our strong international kizuna, the firm emotional bond of solidarity that connects us. This is how we promote our efforts to resist the schemes by multinational corporations and governments. We are really happy that the farmers and consumers of the Philippines and other Asian countries and Japan are working together in this way. If citizens around the world are connected through kizuna, we believe it is possible to stop the cultivation of GM rice and New GMO rice varieties.

Let’s work together.

1 April 2022

Consumers Union of Japan

NO! GMO Campaign

By fridfrid | 01/04/2022 | Biodiversity, Biotechnology, Environment, Food, North-South |

CUJ: Calling for the Withdrawal of Russian Troops from the Ukraine

Update: CUJ participated in the demonstration in Yoyogi and Shibuya in Tokyo on 21 March, with a focus on the issue of Russia’s attack on nuclear plants in Ukraine

To Mr. Mikhail Galuzin, Ambassador of Russia to Japan

From Consumers Union of Japan

Ohno Kazuoki

Koketsu Michiyo

 

28 February 2022

 

Calling for the Withdrawal of Russian Troops from the Ukraine

 

Five days have passed since your country advanced its troops into the Ukraine. The lives and livelihoods of the Ukrainian people have been violated and many people have been displaced. This is a clear act of aggression and a violation of the UN Charter and international law. We strongly urge your country to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and take action toward peace.

 

Also, your president has intimidated the Ukraine and the international community by flaunting the fact that Russia possesses nuclear weapons. As citizens of the only war-bombed country, we cannot condone such an act of intimidating other countries. We strongly demand that you apologize and rescind the above statement.

 

Japan’s Constitution firmly prohibits military actions in other countries. The Preamble of the Constitution pledges to the world as follows:

 

We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving to maintain peace and to remove tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance from the earth forever. We affirm that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want. We believe that no nation should be so devoted to its own affairs as to neglect those of others, that the laws of politics and morality are universal, and that it is the duty of each nation to obey these laws in order to maintain its own sovereignty and to stand on equal terms with other nations. The people of Japan pledge themselves, on their national honor, to do all in their power to achieve these noble ideals and purposes.

 

We, the citizens of Japan, in the name of our Constitution, advise your government that you should not invade the Ukraine and that Russia should turn back immediately.

 

https://nishoren.net/new-information/17205

 

By fridfrid | 06/03/2022 | Civil Rights, Peace |