Ralph Nader's Multinational Monitor has named Daishowa one of the Ten Worst Corporations of 1996, calling it "rotten to the core" for its attempts to silence Canadians who are critical of its activities.

The multinational paper company Daishowa is suing the Toronto group Friends of the Lubicon for its successful boycott campaign in support of the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation of Alberta. Since the boycott began in 1991, Daishowa has been forced to hold off clear-cut logging operations on disputed Native lands. But last year the company convinced the Ontario appelate Court to outlaw the boycott and is now seeking damages it claims have topped $10 million.

Multinational Monitor, founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader in 1980, is a monthly magazine that focuses on issues of multinational corporate power. Its ten worst list, now in its ninth year, is designed to highlight the most egregious acts of corporate crime, violence and other wrongdoing. "The culture of a corporation is reflected by how the company reacts to wrongdoing after the wrongdoing is exposed," the Monitor explains. "Does the company cover up, attack the messengers and fire whistleblowers? Or does it seek out the root of the problem, listen to its critics and reward those instrumental in correcting the wrongdoing and ensuring it will not happen again? By this standard, Daishowa ... appears rotten to the core." Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Caterpillar, Daiwa, Disney, Freeport, Gerber, Mitsubishi, Seagram's, and Texaco are the other nine Worst Corporations of 1996, according to the magazine's December 1996 issue:

* ADM, for committing price-fixing crimes that cost consumers $500 million.

* Caterpillar, for anti-union practices.

* Daiwa Bank Ltd., for committing financial crimes that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in customer losses.

* Disney, for hiring sweatshop contractors in the Third World, including Burma and Haiti, to sew Disney garments.

* Freeport McMoran, for polluting areas near one of its copper mining sites in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

* Gerber for pressuring Guatemala to exempt baby food products from the country's tough infant formula law.

* Mitsubishi, for destroying tropical rainforests around the world and for tolerating widespread sexual harassment at Mitsubishi Motor's Illinois facility.

* Seagram's, for lifting a 48-year old voluntary ban on broadcast advertising of distilled spirits.

* Texaco, for mistreating minority employees, and then seeking to destroy documents to cover up the episode.

For more information, contact:

   for Multinational Monitor:

      Rob Weissman at (202) 387-8030
      or Russell Mokhiber at (202) 737-1680

   for Friends of the Lubicon:

      Kevin Thomas at (416) 631-4048