KUALA LUMPUR: A protest by animal rights group Peta saw a handful of people gather outside the local headquarters of MSG manufacturer Ajinomoto Co today dressed as rats and calling for an end to animal testing.
Holding signs that read “Ajinomoto: Stop Animal Tests”, they claimed some of the recent experiments by the Japan-based manufacturer involved electroshocking rodents, forcing them to fight each other, injecting them with drugs, drawing their blood and killing and dissecting them.
Jason Baker, the senior vice-president of international campaigns for Peta or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said other leaders in the food and beverage industry such as The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and Kellogg Company had already put a stop to experiments on animals.
“Cutting open dogs, starving rabbits and electroshocking mice is horrific, wasteful and does not benefit human health,” he said in a statement to the media.
“Peta calls on Ajinomoto to join the growing industry movement to ban crude and failed animal tests and, instead, use modern, animal-free methods.”
He added that tests for common food ingredients with no toxicity concerns such as MSG should be conducted on humans since the results would be more directly applicable to human health.
Olivia Charlton, a Peta member who led the protest, said this was the group’s second demonstration against Ajinomoto.
“The first protest against the parent company (main headquarters) was done on Nov 1 in Tokyo.
“We distributed leaflets to the staff there because a lot of them did not know about the animal cruelty happening in the company,” she said.
She said the tests were unnecessary as Ajinomoto’s MSG has already been proven safe for consumption.
“We will keep going, and will hold protests at the different locations of Ajinomoto offices until they stop animal testing for food,” she added. - FMT
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