Strasbourg, 11/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - More than half the Members of the European Parliament have signed a written statement calling for the EU to ban the trade of seal products (made from or using seals (a marine animal) or seal derivatives). The written statement will be added to the minutes of the EP's 6 September plenary and will have the status of a formal resolution. The text was tabled by Carl Schlyter (Green, Sweden), Paulo Casaca (PES, Portugal), Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP-ED, Germany), Mojca Drèar Murko (ADLE, Slovenia) and Caroline Lucas (Green, UK). The statement calls on the Commisison to immediately prepare a draft regulation banning the import, export and sale of any products derived from the harp seal or the hooded seal. The signatories explain that the ban should not have any impact on the traditional seal-hunting practices of the Inuits, which only accounts for 3% of the numbers of seals current hunted To raise awareness among public opinion about the sheer scale of the butchery involved, the document explains that more than a million and a half baby harp seals alone have been massacred in the North-West Atlantic region over the past four years, and international experts have found that 42% of the seal carcasses they examined had been separated from their pelts while the seals were still alive. The MEPs explain that the import of 'white coat' baby harp seals and 'blueback' baby hooded seals and dervived sealskin products has been banned within the European Economic Community since 1983, but hunters are now getting round this by waiting a few days for the seals to mature so they can sell seal products made from these seals in the EU. According to the declaration, a number of EU Member States (namely Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy) already ban the sale of seal derivatives, while others (the United Kingdom an d the Netherlands) are planning to ban them. The Council of Europe is currently examining a draft recommendation to ban the import and use of seals and seal parts.