Canada Enraged After European Union Announces a Potential Ban on Imports of Seal Products

According to CNN, the European Union has proposed a ban on importing seal products from countries that kill seals using inhumane methods. Seal products can include their pelts, meat, and oils. While still requiring approval from EU nations, the proposed ban would impose the biggest economic blow and reprimand on Canada, whose citizens sometimes use spiked clubs and guns to kill seals.

This proposed ban is no small deal. Even International Rock God Paul McCartney has publicly stated he is an advocate of the ban, and that Canada’s seal hunt is a “stain” on Canada. He made these remarks several weeks prior to playing at a concert in Canada that took places several days ago. As CNN reports: “Canada’s east coast seal hunt is the largest of its kind in the world, with an average annual kill of about 300,000 harp seals. The Canadian slaughter of some 335,000 seals in 2006 brought in around $25 million (15.7 million euros).”

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Canada’s government has subsequently reacted with anger to the European Union’s proposal, saying that they will impose trade sanctions on the EU if the proposed ban passes muster and becomes law.

The Minister of Fisheries for Canada also griped that the seal hunt is, contrary to false claims, sustainable and humane. This past September, Canada also made a complaint to the World Trade Organization. The Netherlands and Belgium have banned seal products and Canada claims that these bans break trade laws.

The proposal suggests that the European Union will still allow imports of seal products from countries that kill seals swiftly and with as little suffering as possible. Several European Union members kill seals, including Finland, Sweden, and Great Britain. What method the EU will use to assess whether or not seals are being killed inhumanely is unclear (as well as what more specific criteria constitute being inhumane).

There is a bigger problem with this ban though as I see it: the method the European Union suggests they will use to enforce this ban on countries that use cruel hunting methods to kill seals is flawed. CNN writes that “the ban recommends a certificate and labels be provided by countries exporting seal products making clear seal products they trade meet strict EU conditions.”

Hmm… a certificate and label will be needed. Am I the only person that thinks this sounds like a lackluster strategy for ensuring that seals are killed humanely?

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Photo Credit: Animal Equality on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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