02/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Caroline Lucas MEP is calling for the EU to ban seal fur imports 'as the world's largest seal hunts get underway in Canada and Russia.' The British Green MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament Intergroup for Animal Welfare, explains in a press release that 'more than 20 years after the EU banned the import of fur products from the very youngest seal pups, hundreds of thousands of seal pups annually - most just a few weeks old - are clubbed on the ice floes or shot from moving boats as they attempt to flee. Many are skinned alive… It is high time the EU adopted a complete ban on the import of all seal products to try and cut off the demand for fur that fuels this barbaric annual ritual.' She adds that adopting an import ban would be entirely consistent with EU and world trade rules.