Siouxsie Sioux pleads with Japanese company to end animal testing

Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees is lending her voice to a campaign to end cruel animal testing. The rocker has written a letter to Japanese conglomerate Ajinomoto Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, to urge them to stop doing tests on animals.

“I know that Siouxsie and the Banshees fans around the world—including the thousands who attended our final concert in Japan 20 years ago—will be just as appalled as I was to learn that thousands of dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs, fish, mice, pigs, and rabbits have been tormented and killed in cruel experiments since the 1950s,” she writes in a letter to Ajinomoto CEO Taro Fujie on behalf of PETA U.K. “Japan is a beautiful country, which I have visited many times, but these shameful experiments are a stain on its reputation.”

PETA argues that the tests being conducted are neither relevant to human health nor required by law, with Siouxsie adding, “As a major manufacturer, [Ajinomoto] should be leading the way with compassion, not falling behind. Please, stop being spellbound by bad science and end these cruel tests immediately.”