Strasbourg, 19/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has been urging the European Commission to introduce an immediate moratorium on the sale of seal products because of the barbaric methods used to cull the seals, and regrets that the European Commission is refusing to answer until it receives the results of a study by the European Food Safety Agency.
The European Parliament made its request in Strasbourg on 15 March 2007 during a brief debate with the European Commission, which was urged to respond to the statement adopted by the European Parliament on 26 September 2006. In the statement, the EP call on the European Commission to immediately draw up draft legislation to ban the import, export and sale of any white harp seal and blueback products, based on a study by a team of vets, who discovered that 42% of the seal corpses they had examined had had the skins removed while the seals were still alive and conscious. Noting that seal products have been banned in the United States for thirty years and some member states already ban them (a total ban in Belgium and a temporary ban in Italy), the MEPs point out that any EU ban would not impact on traditional Inuit seal-hunting (which only accounts for 3% of total seal-hunting in any case).
In answer to questions put to him by John Bowis (EPP-ED, UK), Paulo Casaca (PES, Portugal), Marios Matsakis (ALDE, Cyprus), Carl Schlyter (Greens/EFA, Sweden) and Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL, Netherlands), the environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, replied that the Commission has no legislative means to put an immediate moratorium in place. Nonetheless, he said, the Commission will carry out an exhaustive analysis of all scientific information available on the methods used for seal hunting in the different countries, seen from the animal welfare angle. Part of the assessment will be carried out by the EFSA. The results of this study will allow the Commission to draw its conclusions and to present legislative proposals where necessary. Stavros Dimas undertook to report to the Parliament as soon as possible. (an)