PETA Persuades Japan’s Nagase & Co. to End Cruel Animal Tests

After discussions with PETA, Nagase & Co.—a trading firm based in Japan that deals in a wide range of products, including cosmetics and functional food ingredients—has agreed not to fund, conduct, or commission tests on animals for the purpose of making health claims about its food products unless explicitly required by law to do so. The company has also posted this policy on its website. Prior to enacting this new policy, Nagase had conducted a study published in 2014 in which experimenters force-fed 30 rats reishi mushroom extracts, repeatedly restrained them, and squeezed cuffs around their tails in order to take their blood pressure—a procedure known to induce stress. They were likely killed at the end of the experiment.