Seal hearts - Medical research puts Namibia in spotlight

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Seal hearts - Medical research puts Namibia in spotlight - by Desie Heita

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WINDHOEK – A successful challenge of the European Parliament ban on seal products into the EU could propel Namibia to international stardom, thanks to an advanced medical research involving transplanting seal valves into humans with chronic heart conditions.

The importance of the medical research and the positive expectations of the ongoing clinical trials are reflected in a 58-page application document that 20 Canadian companies and organisations made to the European Parliament and Council.
Namibia is yet to make an official pronouncement on the medical research. However, New Era understands that internationally renowned medical scientists have engaged Namibia in the clinical trials. The trials are taking place in Europe, as well as other Western countries, because of climate as well as humane and ethical methods of culling seals.
“As a result of the prohibition, the scientists’ capability to research the use of seal heart valves instead of mechanical, bovine or swine valves for medical intervention on humans will be seriously restricted,” argue the lawyers against the EU ban on seal products.

The argument goes further to state that there “is also a compelling case for Omega 3 from seal oil, for human health concerns, which are considered to have particular benefits”.

One of the 20 applicants is a Canadian company called Les produits du loup-marin TaMaSu Inc, which is engaged in using seal products for medical purposes and provides seal valves needed for clinical testing.
Canadian fur organisations, hunter associations and companies involved in the seal trade have asked Namibia for documentation on seal harvesting, to strengthen their case to the EU. The EU Parliament and Council did give few exemptions to the indigenous people of Canada, whose livelihood depends on seal harvest and extra income generated from the sale of fur.
However, the current application seeks an annulment of the entire ban, and instead to have labels on products that show that the animals were harvested specifically as part of marine control mechanisms and that the culling was done in an ethical manner. They are now mulling the idea of turning to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), saying the ban contradicts WTO rules.

Their arguments are that the implementing rules of legislation are illegal and the legislation that prohibits seal products in the EU “relies on animal welfare consideration and not on internal market requirements to justify the ban”.

“[A] trade ban based on subjective perceptions of animal welfare in third countries is hard to justify under WTO rules,” argues the application, adding that the European Union and Council does not demonstrate the need for a ban at the EU level.
They point at Belgium and The Netherlands that have enacted legislation to protect animal welfare, while Germany is in the process of doing so. This is evidence that EU countries are willing and able to protect animal welfare at country level and hence there is no additional need for the EU to roll out a blanket ban at such level, they argue.

“The European Parliament and Council do not demonstrate why intervention at European Union level is required,” reads the argument documents, adding that the regulation “effectively and mainly, if not solely, aims at protecting animal welfare”.
The argument points out that past expressions of serious concerns and complaints from EU citizens were about the “pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering that goes with the killing and skinning of seals”, as they are most frequently performed, inflicted on the animals.

The legal counsel for the organisations goes on to argue that the European Union “is not competent to legislate on the protection of animal welfare”.

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Canadian fur organisations, hunter associations and companies involved in the seal trade have asked Namibia for documentation on seal harvesting, to strengthen their case to the EU.

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