Brussels, 23/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Franz Weber Foundation, a militant NGO that fights for the protection of the environment and seals, has sent a letter to members of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe, requesting them to put a stop to imports into the EU of seal skin products and derivatives that come from Canada. "We are fighting against the industrial hunting of baby-seals in Canada and we are asking the EU to put a ban on seal skin imports, as decided in 1983", declared Judith Weber, Vice President of the association. Ms Weber outlines that, "the 1983 Directive only involved white and blue-backed seal pup-skin imports. The white and blue-backed seals are just a few days old, 10 days old at the most. Moreover, the hunting today involves young seals that are twelve days' old or more, as well as adult seals that have not been covered by the ban. Our Foundation is demanding a ban on all other seal or seal bi-products". Sources at the Commission indicated that, "There is no evidence of an infraction having been committed at this stage with regard to species protected by the Directive". However, "following questions posed by MEPs", the Commission has requested Eurostat, the Statistics Office of the European Community, for data on commercial imports of baby seal-skins and bi-products, in order to check on the matter.
According to the Foundation, 310,000 seal pups have been massacred this year in Canada. The country has announced its intention to increase hunting quotas to 350, 000 seal pups. The NGO indicated in a press statement that "the EU is currently the main purchaser of these products and which is responsible for making the hunting of seals commercially viable…". The NGO, however, is not in a position of providing figures for imports to European countries. The Foundation's Vice President indicates that, "Germany and Italy are two of the largest importers".