Action demanded on cat and dog fur]

[Guest guest]

Here is a web-link to another story concerning the importation of cat &

dog fur into the UK and the EU.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2771361.stm

 

Monday, 17 February, 2003, 12:33 GMT

Action demanded on cat and dog fur

 

 

Campaigners say cat and dog fur is finding its way to Europe

 

Members of the European Parliament are renewing demands for an import

ban on cat and dog fur, which they say is finding its way onto European

markets.

 

We are appalled by some of the pictures of this trade that we have

seen, but we can only act within the laws that we have

Beate Gminder

European Commission

 

The fur is used as trims on jackets, handbags and other products, the

MEPs say, with customers being misled or deliberately left in the dark

about its origins.

 

The MEPs have signed a letter calling on the European Union to ban the

products - although the European Commission insists that it currently

has no powers to do so.

 

" We are appalled by some of the pictures of this trade that we have

seen, but we can only act within the laws that we have, " said Beate

Gminder, spokeswoman for Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner

David Byrne.

 

Italy has already banned the products, and the commission in Brussels

says each individual country within the EU should decide whether it

wants to follow suit, given the lack of European legislation.

 

Campaigners claim that up to two million animals are slaughtered every

year in countries including China.

 

What we are dealing with here is massive consumer fraud

Struan Stevenson

British MEP

 

An investigation by the Humane Society of the USA said cats and dogs

were kept in cruel conditions in animal farms, and that many were

skinned alive to prevent the furs losing their condition after the

animals' death.

 

The fur finds their way on to the market with misleading labelling,

campaigners claim.

 

Cat fur might be labelled as rabbit, or dog fur might say " Asian wolf " ,

says Louise Stevenson of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade.

 

" There are lots of euphemisms, as manufacturers know that consumers

would not buy cat and dog, " said Ms Stevenson.

 

" Some shops are even assured by their suppliers that the fur is fake. "

 

If you can have laws to ban child pornography, surely you can ban other

things that are morally and ethically questionable

Louise Stevenson

Anti-fur campaigner

 

British Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, among those to sign the

letter to Mr Byrne, disputes the Commission's claims to be powerless to

act.

 

" What we are dealing with here is massive consumer fraud, " he said.

 

Campaigners also insist that the EU has a moral duty to act.

 

" If you can have laws to ban child pornography, surely you can ban other

things that are morally and ethically questionable, " Ms Stevenson said.

 

" I think it is a lack of will rather than a lack of legislation. "

 

The European Commission says it believes only relatively small amounts

of the fur are coming in, although campaigners say there has been a

surge into Europe since a US ban on the fur was introduced two years

ago.

 

 

 

Adrian