January 1998


This month marks the first anniversary of the Shimadzu Consumer Alerts homepage since its debut one year ago. It's an exciting time to reflect on some of our noteworthy accomplishments. With the help of the online consumer-oriented community, we are enjoying the addition of 2 new links on average everyday to our awesome homepage. The end result is a pretty potent website and online presence that is a growing force to be reckoned with.... just ask the folks at Shimadzu! According to site popularity data provided by a major internet search engine, we have an online presence of more than eleven times our major rival (the shimadzu.com homepage has a mere 49 websites linking to their domain plus a full-time web-team and private server to boot.... go figure!).

With numbers like this, we noted with much interest a survey that was conducted at the 92nd Gulf Coast Conference which attracted about 6000 scientists to Galveston, Texas from September 8-12, 1997. Participants were questioned about internet usage among other things. The results were music to our ears.... nearly 50% of the attendees reported that they currently use the Internet to obtain product information (what are the chances that prospective customers are discovering the factual truths on our homepage during their online search for product information.... we certainly like the odds!). With another 21% of conference participants planning to be online soon, the odds will only increase given time.

According to a study just concluded by International Data Corporation, about 100 million people in the US or one in four households will have connections to the world wide web by the end of 1998. Shimadzu will become a household name (for all the "right" reasons) if we have anything to do with it.... and we do! Shimadzu should check in at McSpotlight to see how the Ronald McDonald show is playing worldwide.... a real David vs Goliath story in the present day! Who knows, maybe the McLibel lawyers are available for something less than the estimated $16 million dollars in legal fees that McDonalds anteed up.

In 1997, we made great strides informing decision makers in the lab about "the other side of Shimadzu." This effort was significantly augmented by genuine comments written by Mr. Terry L. Adams (Shimadzu Regional Manager) which our readers have raved about. We understand that Mr. Adams was promoted to regional manager after writing this scathing memo which was extremely critical of Shimadzu in-house personnel and management. It does make one wonder what one has to do at Shimadzu to get fired. With friends like this in high places.... who needs enemies? Thank you Mr. Adams for your amazing and enlightening observations! Please let us know if you have anything to add during 1998.... email us. We'll listen even when the folks at Shimadzu don't seem to get it!

The coming year will witness a more aggressive campaign to disseminate factual information worldwide about Shimadzu and their egregious business practices. This information should be of real concern and use to anyone considering the acquisition of new analytical instrumentation. We call upon our supporters to employ all known methods to disperse these truths including conventional (eg. snailmail, telephone, fax, email, word of mouth) and non-conventional means (ie. chat rooms, newsgroups, usenets, bulletin boards, search engine indexes, etc) to meet our objective of reaching all laboratory decision makers. Please refrain from anything illegal - there are numerous ways of making our presence known without violating the law. We would be deeply indebted to anyone who could land us a prime website on the Internet2. Please help us spin an impenetrable spider's web thru which nothing will be left to chance!

Our primary purpose has always been to communicate valuable consumer-oriented information to our readers.... and this is our pledge in 1998 as well! We do not post any sham information on our website and anything that is published has been substantiated and/or verified independently (editorial notes, opinions and statements are just that - points of view.... don't hate us when we tell it the way it is!). It is unlikely that anyone from Shimadzu would admit openly and officially to the truths promulgated on our homepage. They'll either deny these truths or deflect your concerns as the work of disgruntled individual(s).... this is unfortunate. When an organization cannot be relied upon to police itself and disclose incontrovertible wrongdoing, it should be no great surprise that outside forces will undertake the mission and gladly proclaim this factual information to the four corners of the Earth.... we remain omnipotent and undaunted!

This is the real beauty of the world wide web. No one commercial entity can monopolize the internet or its content - everyone can have an equal say! Corporations like Shimadzu have been known to retain high-priced legal talent in a bold attempt to bludgeon, intimidate and scare off principled informants including webmasters. Dear Shimadzu: we're not going anywhere anytime soon.... stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Any one person, group or organization can construct and maintain a presence on the web with virtual impunity - this insures that another perspective is available for public consumption since we all know that there are at least 2 sides to every story.... is life great or what?

When presented with unpleasant and embarrassing knowledge by a principled employee, we understand given the choice that Shimadzu's preference is to annihilate the messenger in an attempt to extirpate the veritable message. One would think that an employee might be credited with uncovering corporate abuse, waste, fraud and malfeasance.... apparently, this is not the case at Shimadzu! We think that this line of corporate behavior is malevolent, unbecoming and reprehensible. The question posed to Shimadzu's management is - who pays for this corporate wrongdoing? We think our readers know the answer to this question.... the customer ultimately! Hence, wherever customers are involved - we are concerned and pressed into proactive engagement. We remain quite determined to continue our commendable work. Along with our complement of custodians, the Shimadzu Consumer Alerts homepage will not disappear from the internet any time soon. A word to the sage at Shimadzu.... sit back, strap yourself in, grit your teeth, paint a smile on your face, hold tight and enjoy the ride because you have absolutely no control over the path you're being catapulted along - you do not have permission to get off just yet (be sure to check your pants when you do get back up!).

We liken our homepage strategy to the Battle of Midway during early June 1942. For those who are unfamiliar with this great naval showdown involving the US and Japan, it goes something like this. The Japanese were determined to capture the island of Midway.... the Americans saw it differently! When the dust settled, Japan's Rising Sun of Nippon was slowly sinking. The destruction of 4 Japanese heavy aircraft carriers (Kaga, Soryu, Akagi, Hiryu) from June 2-6, 1942 shifted the balance of naval sea and air strength in the Pacific with avengence. The Japanese were dealt a humiliating blow! In the coming months, we will continue to rekindle this great naval battle in an attempt to remind the world of Japan's outrageous actions during World War II and America's resolve to trounce the Japanese yet again when the situation warrants it.... we may be in the midst of one of those portentous situations!

Let's never forget that Shimadzu Scientific is a company that has sued it's valued customers, exposed customers and employees unnecessarily to hazardous materials, published fraudulent credentials for some course instructor(s) providing fee-based training, put corporate profits ahead of employee health & safety training programs for 5 full years and attempted to censure our homepage by threatening two different ISPs.... what will they do next - stay tuned! The editors of this homepage hereby give notice to Shimadzu Corporation (and it's subsidiaries, distributors, agents and employees thereof) to cease and desist in any and all efforts to remove or cause to removed the factual and truthful information on our homepage (and the accompanying support pages) from the Internet.... this includes relevant search engine indexes, usenets, bulletin board postings, etc. Shimadzu et. al. should understand and comprehend that all remedies (civil, criminal and punitive) will be vigorously pursued if they persist in any way whatsoever (directly or indirectly) to willfully and intentionally violate our Constitutional and/or Civil Rights. Go ahead and play us.... there will be HELL to pay guaranteed!

As we look ahead to the coming year, we will continue to unveil incredible new stories and late-breaking updates as the information becomes available under the Freedom of Information Act. Our readers will have their socks blown off when they learn about some of the brazen business practices we've uncovered at Shimadzu. We are grateful to our network of contributors and sources who supply us with an influx of tips, ideas and story suggestions.... keep them coming! There are investigations that are still active and on-going. Therefore, we will not divulge the nature of these undertakings so as to compromise sources or jeopardize the outcomes. Maybe Shimadzu and their obtrusive legal counsel should consider contacting the president@whitehouse.gov considering the adeptness of his legal staff at plugging water leaks during his embattled presidency. Who knows - maybe they can help Shimadzu get out of the debacle they're in.... maybe not!

One final note to the "inside the beltway" lawyers retained by Shimadzu: one of the legal elements of copyright infringement is that the alleged infringer must be profiting or realizing financial gain at the expense of the copyright holder. This has never occurred and one would think that the attorneys representing Shimadzu knew this.... guess they were too busy being a playground bully versus spending some time in the library brushing up on their knowledge of trademark law. Our closing comment to the folks at Shimadzu: You CAN'T touch this.... so save your time, money and energy for a more noble effort - nobody likes a bully!


n.b. It's been observed that if you throw enough excrement up on the wall.... some of it is bound to stick sooner or later. Meanwhile, the slinging will continue unabated!

n.b. It would appear that Shimadzu is actively recruiting major accounts globally but they have not made this list public thus far.... why is that - do they even have any corporate accounts worldwide? Is there a concerted effort underway by Shimadzu to insulate customers from the factual information on our homepage?? If there is.... that's called censorship! Shouldn't these global accounts have the opportunity to learn more about the other side of Shimadzu???

n.b. For those quality vendors who run into a competitive sales situation with Shimadzu, please feel free to direct or otherwise introduce prospective customers to the factual information presented on our homepage. Once these customers become enlightened, this should ease your workload and significantly increase your chances of trumping Shimadzu.... good selling! (How come none of Shimadzu's competitors have problems like those articulated on this homepage.... maybe they just do a better job from A to Z.)

n.b. According to Bob Orr of CBS News, a car built in Japan that cost $20,000 to produce in July 1997 now costs $17,000 to manufacture due to the devalued Japanese yen. (Keep in mind that the profit margin then and now is still the same for the manufacturer.... it's just cheaper now for Japan to make cars and other products!) For the laboratory customer who decides to do business with Shimadzu (good luck), this should translate into a ~15% discount on all Shimadzu instrumentation imported for sale in the United States. Is Shimadzu holding out on you? If you have to ask about this big difference before Shimadzu grants a decent discount.... DON'T - just buy from the competition instead! (This leads to the observation that all Shimadzu customers should seriously question any price increases that Shimadzu announces this year.... if the Japanese yen continues to devaluate, Shimadzu Scientific should announce a round or two of price cuts!)