Proposed ban on seal products divides EU countries

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The planned EU ban on the sales of skins, meat and fat from seals in the Union area has divided member-states.
      Initially devised as a means of doing something about the cruel and barbaric practices of Canadian seal-hunters, the EU proposal does not as it stands find much sympathy in Sweden, Denmark, or Finland.
      In Finland it is feared that the total ban would hurt the small-scale output of seal products on the West Coast in Pohjanmaa.
     
The bloody slaughter of seal pups in Canada has long been a source of anger and frustration for nature conservancy groups.
      Last July, the European Commission declared that an outright ban on seal products was essential in order to stop the killing. The only exception within the Union is for the products of the Inuit population of Greenland.
      The Commission would also be willing to permit those products that come with a separate certificate of their humane origin.
     
Environment ministers from the 27 EU countries will discuss the ban at a meeting today in Luxembourg.
      The member-states and the European Parliament will together reach a final decision on the matter.
      More than half the MEPs have previously called for a complete ban on the trade in seal products across the Union.
      Belgium and The Netherlands have for instance already instituted unilateral bans. Seal protection is also on the ascendancy in the UK, even though there is some seal-hunting done there, too.
     
Canada is the world’s largest trapper of seals, with just over a quarter of a million of the animals killed each year.
      The exports of seal products are worth around EUR 16 million. Greenland and Namibia are also major seal-hunting countries, and these three account for roughly 60% of the 900,000 seals killed annually for their skins and meat.
      The Canadians have opposed the planned EU ban and are threatening to take the issue to the World Trade Organisation. The EU’s environment commissioner Stavros Dimas says the ban does not belong on the WTO, as the intention is not discriminatory.


Links:
  Harp Seal (Wikipedia)
  Europa Press Release 23rd July 2007: Commission proposes trade ban in products from seals to improve animal welfare

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