EU orders ban on seal products
Written by Janet
On Monday the EU gave the go ahead to ban imports of seal products, prompting Canada to say it would launch a challenge at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ban on sales on all products from seals, including fur, meat and oil, was approved by EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels without a debate. The move follows many years of pressure from animal rights campaigners, who say Canada’s annual seal hunt is inhumane.
This ban will affect the 2010 hunting season. It exempt products from traditional hunts carried out by the Inuit people in Canada and Greenland. Many Europeans back the ban, opinion polls show, with animal protection groups lobbying hard by showing brutality involved in seal hunts. Some of the animals are bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
Canada, which insisted the EU should recognize that the hunt is conducted humanely, said it would launch a WTO challenge.
The ban would affect some 4.2 million euros ($5.99 million) in annual businesses, EU diplomats have said. Earlier this year, the European Parliament approved the ban, sharpening the proposals from the European Commission, which initially suggested a partial embargo coupled with clear labeling of products to show they contain culled seals.
- Posted in: Europe
- Tagged: banned, Canada to challenge, EU, seal products
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Canada to take seal ban fight to WTO
Canada said it would take its fight for the country’s seal hunting industry to the WTO, vowing to appeal a European Union decision to ban imported seal products. In a decision taken without debate, EU foreign ministers earlier adopted a ban on seal products from Canada, ruling the goods cannot be marketed in the 27 EU nations. Three countries — Denmark, Romania and Austria — abstained with all others voting in favor.
Only products “from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities to ensure their subsistence” would be permitted under the ban, according to a statement.
But Inuit communities nonetheless called the ban “an abomination,” saying it “directly attacks cultures, communities, and livelihoods that represent a basic means of living for many here in Canada.”
Mary Simon, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the national leader of Inuit in Canada, said the ban was based on “groundless accusations influenced by animal rights propaganda campaigns.”
Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said the regulation “specifically prohibits the marketing of products resulting from sustainable and humane commercial hunts,” saying the vote was a violation of the EU’s WTO commitments.
It applies to all seals, whether they are in the EC or in Canada or Norway and is entirely non-discriminatory.”
The move concerned products derived from all species of seals and includes fur skins, organs, meat, oil and blubber, which can be used in cosmetics and medicine. It is due to take effect next spring, once nations have implemented the legislation.
The Canadian government said WTO consultations would begin 60 days after Canada submits its request. The demand, it said, would be made “in the coming weeks,” after reviewing the final decision from the European Council of Ministers.
“If others choose to challenge it in the WTO, then the European Commission will vigorously defend it, as it does with all EC legislation,” Gullner said.
On Sunday, Canada had urged the EU to reconsider the ban, arguing it imposes regulations ensuring humane hunting inside its borders.
In July 2007, Canada launched WTO talks with Belgium and the Netherlands about the two countries’ embargo on seal products, but the consultations broke off with no resolution.
Inuit spokesperson Violet Ford said the community would continue to hunt seal and might consider legal action.
Seal hunters cashed in about 10 million dollars from the 2009 hunt, said Day, adding that 25 percent of the sales usually come from exporting products to Europe.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia kill 60 percent of the 900,000 seals slain each year. Other seal-hunting countries include Norway, Iceland, Russia and the United States.
Why would anyone want to kill such a beautiful creature? What harm have they ever done to deserve such fate? Maybe those shops who sell the furs should be boycotted.
Politicians hold seal-tasting event in Ottawa
Politicians gathered Wednesday for a seal-tasting celebration in Ottawa, in defiance of foreign critics.
Members of different parties got together on Parliament Hill in defence of Canada’s much-maligned seal hunt.
They first watched a movie about the hunt — and then they feasted on samples of the blubbery mammal.
The event was organized by the Bloc Québécois, but members of other parties showed up, including two Conservative cabinet ministers: Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan.
Canadian politicians have almost unanimously defended the industry in the face of the European Union’s ban on most seal product imports.
Some have questioned why that continent — which introduced the world to bullfighting — should have any right to question what they call an ethical seal hunt.
The hunt has taken a hit in recent years, and by last year only accounted for $5.5 million in exports to the European Union. With the EU’s new ban, hunters will likely lose 25 per cent of their sales.
The hunt has traditionally supported communities in the country’s poorest regions, along the East Coast and in the Inuit North.