Day: January 29, 2022

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

So; EU Sells Pig Meat to Japan, and Under JEEPA; Japan Sells Pig Meat to the EU. That Makes Environmental Air / Sea Mile Sense, Or Does It ? – They Call It An ‘EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement’; We Call It Environmental Destruction.

EU and Japan should use their trade deal to do more for animals

27 January 2022

WAV comment – so, under the JEEPA; the EU imports cattle, hens and pigs from Japan. But hey, does the EU not export (from Germany) pig meat to China  ?   Germany is one of the largest meat exporters in the world with approximately 58 million pigs are slaughtered in Germany every year.

So, lets get a grip – the EU produces pig meat within the EU (Germany) that it then exports outside of the EU.  At the same time through JEEPA, the EU is importing pig meat from Japan on the other side of the planet ! – this must be so effective in reducing all the meat transportation miles and cutting down on air and sea miles I don’t think. 

Sounds to me like a to hell with the environment; as long as we have good export and import figures, who cares !

Why not German pig meat be sold in the EU, and Japanese pig meat sold in Japan or China ? – this shown the environmentally destructive results of ‘economic partnership agreements’ that our master politicians pride themselves on so much.  Fools or sense ?

Regards Mark

From Eurogroup for animals.

The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA) entered into force in February 2019, but the partners have not yet started any discussion on animal welfare. At the occasion of the third joint civil society meeting under the trade deal, Eurogroup for Animals calls on the EU and Japan to make use of the provisions on animal welfare cooperation listed in the agreement to foster a transition towards a more sustainable food system, in which animal well being is respected.

Read our report.

While JEEPA liberalised the trade in most animal products without any condition related to animal welfare, it also provided two channels that could be used to improve animal well being: the provisions on animal welfare cooperation, and the chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD), which covers wildlife trafficking, sustainable aquaculture and fisheries. 

While the EU does not currently import significant amounts of animal products from Japan, reduced tariffs have still led to more imports of Japanese animal products. For instance, between 2018 and 2019, imports of Japanese fresh and chilled beef increased by 31% and pig meat imports more than doubled.

As tariff reduction was not conditional on the respect of any animal welfare standards, and as Japan has poor legal requirements in the field, the increase in trade is likely to have favoured mostly industrialised intensive farming practices. This is not only detrimental to animal welfare, but also fuels challenges such asclimate change, biodiversity loss, antimicrobial resistance, and the spread of zoonoses. 

Using the mechanisms available under JEEPA to promote higher animal welfare is thus essential to ensure that trade policy does not impede the EU’s efforts in combating these problems.

In July 2020, in a reply to a joint letter sent by Eurogroup for Animals, Japan Anti-Vivisection Association (JAVA) and Animal Rights Center Japan (ARCJ), the European Commission agreed that increased animal welfare cooperation should be part of the EU-Japan cooperation. At the occasion of the third anniversary of JEEPA, Eurogroup for Animals reiterates its call for concrete actions to take place in the field through the publication of a report on what the EU and Japan could do for animals under JEEPA. 

The report describes the areas that would be the more promising for EU-Japan animal welfare cooperation either because of the EU imports (cattle, hens and pigs), or because the sectors are key in Japan and therefore any improvement to animal welfare could have a significant impact on animals and on the sustainability of food productions (laying hens and broiler chickens), and lastly  because the EU exports live animals who end up being farmed in these sectors in Japan (horses). 

Hopefully, 2022 will be the year such a cooperation starts. This would contribute to the achievements of the objective listed in the Farm to Fork strategy: to use its trade policy to “obtain ambitious commitments from third countries in key areas such as animal welfare”.

Read our report.

Regards Mark

About Us, General News, Uncategorized

29/1: A Message From Venus and Mark To All Our Site Visitors.

Venus and Mark; the co founders of WAV, would like to thank some of you for the comments you leave in the way of replies on the site.  We read them all and they are all to be viewed under ‘Recent Comments’ on the left hand side on the site.  We are both of the same feeling on most animal issues; we provide input individually but consult when necessary, and the following has been released with approval from us both.

WAV is an information site run by us, animal advocates.

We run this animal rights blog independently, do not act as representatives any organization or political party (from any country) and we finance our work ourselves – independently; free  from outside sources.  Where possible on our posts, we always publish the original source of our data, as well as providing links directly to animal advocate organisations if we feel it will be beneficial for further progress.

Many WAV visitors often make contact, asking how they can support us.  We do not ask for your money or your financial membership; we have no membership – instead we ask that you invest your donations (if you are able) directly to the animal organisations that we give information on; but just as important, if not more important, is something that everyone can do as supporters, and that is:

Sign the petitions,

Share the videos of the atrocities we provide; films in the slaughterhouse, animal farms, labs, bear bile farms, dairy systems, fur farms, trophy hunting to name but a few; in addition to everyone giving up the support of these businesses which are directly associated with meat, dairy and the use of any animal products.  Plant based is the way forward and we promote that.

These are the minimums that we owe the animals, and with your support, can make such a difference, whilst at the same time have a very positive effect by delivering a severe blow to those who exploit and torture animals.

Thank you for your interests in supporting WAV either financially or in other ways; but rest assured, it is not necessary.  If you can do the above, it is more than we ask in the way of full support.

It is the positive changes that drive us, and we are witnessing this each and every day from the feedback we get from all corners of the world.  Visitor Traffic for Worldanimalsvoice.com (clustrmaps.com) – this is the only inspiration we need to be a world animals voice.

Our best regards and thanks to you all for your actions and support;

Venus and Mark.