Please enjoy this article from the latest issue of our magazine, PETA Global. To begin your subscription, become a PETA member today!
By Shalin Gala and Dr. Frances Cheng, PETA Laboratory Investigations Department
Who would have ever imagined that beer was tested on animals? Surely beer companies would have no trouble finding human volunteers willing to down a few brews in the name of science! But that didn’t stop Japanese beer giants Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory from funding experiments on animals.
As the first organization to expose animal testing in the alcohol industry, PETA found that these companies–which have a combined share of more than 91% of the Japanese alcoholic beverage market–killed more than 1,800 animals in cruel and unnecessary experiments.
Over the Limit
Since 2015, Kirin had funded numerous experiments that resulted in the deaths of at least 399 mice and rats. Experimenters force-fed mice fermented milk and injected an inflammatory substance into their brains, and they force-fed others probiotics and injected a flu virus up their noses. Rats were starved and force-fed hop extracts, and electrodes were inserted into their abdomens. At the end of the experiments, the animals were all killed.
Asahi–maker of Asahi Super Dry and Peroni beers–killed almost 1,200 mice and rats in nearly a dozen experiments. Suntory–maker of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and other spirits–force-fed 190 mice and rats alcohol and other substances, as well as starving and electrocuting them. Sapporo–the best-selling Asian beer in the US–conducted similar experiments on 60 mice and hamsters.
Cutting Them Off
PETA told Suntory that the experimental data could easily have been obtained using human volunteers (or with other non-animal methods) and would have therefore been directly relevant to human health. Suntory did the right thing, telling PETA that “we have decided that we will no longer fund, conduct or commission new projects that use animal testing to establish health claims.”
Other brands took notice. Asahi told PETA that it would “not fund, conduct or commission animal tests that are not required by law,” with the understanding that no law explicitly requires animal tests to support marketing claims about food. Soon afterward, Sapporo saw the light. Then Kirin–the second-largest alcoholic-beverage manufacturer in Japan and the ninth-largest one in the world–also agreed to end all experiments on animals for marketing purposes. Other major alcohol companies–including Molson Coors, Bacardi, Heineken, and E. & J. Gallo–have followed suit.
PETA has also succeeded in ending many food and beverage brands’ experiments on animals–including Lipton, Ocean Spray, Pepsi, POM Wonderful, Welch’s, Hershey’s, and Barilla pasta. Even strawberry, grape, and raspberry, industry groups were conducting painful and deadly experiments on mice and rats–until PETA put a stop to it.
PETA has now persuaded nearly the entire Japanese alcohol industry to abandon archaic animal tests, bringing new meaning to the toast “To your health!”
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