Mise au point de Rebecca Aldworth/phoques

[Animal 0]

Hi everyone,

As you know, seriously misleading media reports have circulated through the
country -
both from Associated Press and from Canadian Press - about the European
Commission's
response on the proposed seal products ban.

While these reports indicate that the European Commission decision rejected
calls for a
ban on seal products, this is simply not the case. From a diplomatic
perspective, the
Commission response was strong, and lays the groundwork for legislation to
occur.

Canadian Press also quoted me as saying that there is a lot of contradictory
evidence
about the humane aspects of the hunt - what I actually said was there is
contradictory
evidence because some of the studies are paid for by the Canadian government.

Here are a few of the media stories that need to be responded to - there are
more, you
can find them with a google news search. I'm hoping you might consider sending
in some
short letters to your local papers to correct the misinformation.

The main points are:

- The European Commission did NOT reject calls for a ban on seal products, and
any
media stories that indicate this are false.

- The Commission DID commit to studying the animal welfare issues surrounding
the seal
hunt, and introducing legislation based on their findings.

- Last week, a leading European political newspaper, European Voice, stated the
Commissioner in charge of the seal file had said he intends to introduce
legislation
banning seal products as soon as possible.

- The humane aspects of the commercial seal hunt have been studied for four
decades,
and the evidence is crystal clear - the seal hunt is not acceptably humane.
Canadian
veterinary experts say the commercial seal hunt can never be made humane because
of
the physical environment in which it operates and the speed at which it is
conducted.

- A ban on seal products in the European Union would likely spell the end of the
Canadian
commercial seal hunt, and this would be welcomed by the overwhelming majority of
Canadians.

Thanks for anything you can do to get this message out to Canadian newspapers.

Rebecca Aldworth
Humane Society of the United States