DYING FOR SCIENCE: Japan cancels '14 hunt

After promising to abide by a U.N. court decision, Japan cancelled this year's Antarctic whale hunt after the court ruled that 'scientific' whaling is not scientific. Japan has yet to point to one scientific advancement made due to harpooning a whale. Japan has long used a loophole to get around international bans on whaling by claiming the kills were needed for scientific research. Japan's whaling ships even have the word 'research' written on their sides in massive English letters. But critics of whaling say slaughtering is not research and there is no scientific need to kill these massive creatures. Detractors say the 'research' is merely a cover for Japan's whale meat industry. Changing Japanese demographics mean fewer people are eating whale meat and it could be that decades of international pressure on Japan to end whaling may be bearing fruit. Others, however, see hypocrisy in western attitudes towards Japanese whaling as pigs, cows, chickens and other animals are slaughtered by the millions in the west with little protest. What's the difference between killing a cow and a whale, some ask, claiming the bias against whaling is a cultural objection rather than a true ecological concern.