PETA Statement: Olympics Composer’s Bullying Is Not the Only Abuse Scandal Plaguing the Games

For Immediate Release:
July 19, 2021

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see PETA Vice President Shalin Gala’s statement regarding an additional abuse allegation plaguing the Tokyo Olympic Games in the wake of Keigo Oyamada’s resignation over bullying:

While the world reels from the bizarre news that Keigo Oyamada, a composer working on the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics, once forced a classmate to eat his own feces and masturbate in front of others, it is not the only abuse scandal plaguing the games.

Ajinomoto Co., Inc., sponsor of the Olympic National Training Center and the world’s leading maker of MSG, forces animals to run on treadmills at high speeds until they become exhausted, swim for their lives in near-drowning tests, fight strangers, and leap away from electric shocks in pseudo-scientific tests that resemble nothing so much as a depraved version of Olympic Trials. But in Ajinomoto’s “games,” all the participants are killed and dissected in the end—simply so that the company can make dubious marketing claims about the human health effects of its products.

Similar in offensiveness to Oyamada’s apparent abuse of vulnerable individuals, Ajinomoto has force-fed mice bacteria isolated from the feces of other diseased mice and sexually abused cows by repeatedly poking their anuses and vulvae.

There is no excuse for Ajinomoto to continue these misguided animal tests, which are curiosity-driven and not required by law. More than 144,000 people have called on the company to join the ranks of the dozens of global food companies that have banned animal tests after discussions with PETA.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.