Animals in JAPAN | ZENOAQ [Nippon Zenyaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.]

This Month [January 2012]

Politics and Animal Welfare

This year the animal welfare legislation in Japan will be reviewed and revised. Many experts have been involved in the task force set up by the Ministry of the Environment to discuss the details of the revision. The task force finished their final meeting in mid-December and their recommendations have been compiled into a comprehensive report to be delivered to the National Diet. The politicians are now ready to start the actual work of changing the law. National interest has also been very strong. The Ministry of the Environment received a total of approximately 56,000 comments when they opened up the possible contents of the revision for public comment. This has pushed the politicians to take a stand on animal issues. This in itself is a very good thing, but there have been some aspects of this phenomenon that can cause potential problems. One such problem has been the enthusiasm with which some of them have taken to the task of "getting involved". Many Diet members have established task forces with their peers to research issues in animal welfare with the result that the leading DJP, the Democratic Party of Japan, now has three separate groups undertaking such activities. The animal welfare in Japan originated as a law-maker initiated legislation and the next revision will also be such. This means that these alliances, or task forces, will all be working actively to formulate the basic contents of the next law. With three groups in the leading party plus the task forces that have been established in other parties such as the former leading part the Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, there will indeed be many "cooks" deciding what to put into the soup. At the same time, as most Diet members are not experts on animal issues, they need to be led in the right direction in order for a viable revision to take place. Unfortunately, because of the rise in interest in animals within political circles, the politicians have been relying on media -generated information to gather information and to seek out those who are capable of giving them guidance. Needless to say the media more often than not are attracted to sensational topics. "Animal people" that are skilled in playing into the emotions of the public are often not true experts on welfare issues but do attract media attention. These figures are then the ones that many politicians may rely on to guide them through the arena of animal protection within the legal system and how the changes should be made. This can be quite problematic if the figures that are chosen as "teachers" have extreme views concerning the protection of animals. Law -makers need to be educated by experts who are capable of expressing rational views based on facts. There are too many people in the animal welfare field in Japan who are out there for personal gain. Many are trying to find places to vent their self-righteousness. Facts are often distorted to suit their needs. Unless the members of the National Diet can access quality information and quality intellect the upcoming revision may suffer from a chaotic prelude.

Objective

Archive