RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS - A Conservative Approach to Animal Welfare

Bournemouth International Hotel, Wednesday 6th October 09.45 hrs

BAN THE EVIL TRADE IN CAT & DOG FUR
Two summers ago, while visiting a gift shop in the North of Scotland, I noticed they were selling little furry kittens sleeping in tiny wicker baskets. These are the kinds of gifts that animal lovers adore. They buy them for their children and friends. I have seen them on sale in gift shops in almost every country in Europe. What many consumers are not aware of, however, is that the fur used for these little figurines can be real cat or dog fur! DNA tests carried out at the University of Amsterdam laboratories proved that identical cat figurines were in fact made from the fur of domestic dogs.

However, an even bigger shock was in store. Following lab tests conducted by a Dutch Animal Welfare Charity - Bont Voor Dieren - it was revealed in December 2003 that several cat & dog fur items had toxic levels of chromium.

Chromium is used in the tanning process in China and the shocking lab results showed that fur toys and other items were up to 6 times over the maximum safety thresholds for children. Toxic chromium levels can cause health problems such as serious liver and kidney damage, weakening of the immune system and in some cases, cancer, because chromium changes the DNA structure.

When I drew these disturbing lab results to the attention of Commissioner David Byrne, the Commissioner for Health & Consumer Affairs, he wrote to me stating that the Commission required to be clear as to whether "the test results represent a unique situation or whether these imported items frequently contain and release high amounts of chromium." I set out to find the answer and sent my cat figurine which I had purchased in Scotland to Bont Voor Dieren for testing. The results were horrifying. This cute little furry toy had 760 mg/kg of chromium, against a permitted maximum safety level for children of 60 mg/kg! In other words, this toxic toy was more than 12 times over the safety threshold. I sent this information to the Commission, but still Commissioner Byrne refused to take action?

The cat and dog fur trade is more common than we think and most of these products are imported from Asia. In some Asian countries, such as China, killing cat and dogs for their fur is the norm. Slaughter of these animals is horrific, with cats strangled outside their cages as other cats look on and dogs noosed with metal wires and then slashed across the groin until they bleed to death as the wire noose cuts into their throat. In Harbin (China), investigators from the lead organisation campaigning against this horrific trade - Humane Society International - documented a dog being skinned while still blinking and conscious. The pelts have appeared in EU stores as full length coats, homeopathic arthritis aids, hair bows for children, trim on sweaters and linings for boots and gloves as well as the toy cat figurines. One item purchased in a well-known Department Store in the Netherlands for instance, was a pink lambswool sweater with two attractive pink pom poms attached to the collar. These fluffy balls were made to appear as faux fur, yet were positively DNA tested as being made from dog fur.

I know that some companies selling cat figurines in the EU claim that they are made from rabbit fur. In certain cases this is true. However, people must be warned that where a furry item is labelled as coming from China, Korea or other parts of East Asia, there is a high probability that it may be made from cat or dog fur and, even if it is rabbit, it is likely to be contaminated with toxic levels of chromium. East Asian and Chinese exporters and unscrupulous furriers in the EU have used false labels on such items in the past, deliberately setting out to mislead the public as to their true origin. People must remain vigilant. Avoiding the purchase of any fur items is the best precaution.

The animals used for this trade are raised under deplorable conditions and killed solely for their skins and furs. Strays dogs and cats are often rounded up and killed for their fur and even domestic pets are stolen to meet the growing demand for these products. Nearly 2 million dogs and cats die in this trade annually in China alone.

So why do we import these despicable goods and support this horror trade? The problem is that while the EU can take stringent measures in respect of animal welfare within its own borders, under WTO rules, as currently interpreted, animal welfare provisions cannot be made a condition for banning imports from third countries. Despite these conditions, America, in 2001, took the courageous decision to pass a law banning all imports of cat and dog products. Australia followed suit earlier this year. While this has stemmed the tide of products into the US and Australia, it has sadly led to an increased flow of cat and dog fur items coming into the EU. China and Korea now regard Europe as an ideal dumping ground for these items.

In an effort to stop this trade I have put pressure many times on Commissioner David Byrne to introduce a Europe-wide ban, but all to no avail. He says he will not agree to an EU-wide ban and would rather individual Member States impose their own unilateral bans. So far, our campaign has persuaded Italy, Denmark, Greece, Belgium and France to do so. Ireland is actively considering possible legislation. However, the UK government has refused to implement such a ban, stating that they have found no evidence of cat & dog fur items on sale in the country. Nevertheless, at an Agriculture Council of Ministers meeting in November 2002, 13 of the 15 Ministers present, supported a request from Sweden for an EU-wide ban to be implemented. Once again the Commission refused.

Instead, Commissioner Byrne said he was considering the introduction of labelling legislation across the EU. This would be worse than useless. Unscrupulous Asian gangsters who make a fortune out of this cruel trade rejoice in their highly inventive labels. They know no-one in Europe would ever buy a garment labelled as domestic cat or dog fur, so they invent mythical names like Asian Jackal, Gae Wolf, Sobaki and so on to fool the public.

In a desperate attempt to break the Commission log-jam, in the Autumn of 2003 I launched a Written Declaration in the European Parliament, calling for an outright EU-wide ban on the import, export and trade in cat & dog furs. By Christmas, our Declaration had been signed by 346 MEPs, only the sixth time in the history of Parliament that an absolute majority of Members had signed a Written Declaration. The President of the Parliament subsequently forwarded our Declaration to the Commission with a request that they prepare draft legislation for consideration in the Council of Ministers and in the Parliament.

There has been total silence from the Commission since! This is absurd and frustrating when one considers that the majority of EU ministers, the majority of MEPs and the vast majority of the public are calling for a ban.

There is clearly massive consumer fraud involving the mis-labelling of goods in an evil trade that no civilised EU citizen would wish to support. The Commission have run out of excuses. Humane Society International even financed a legal opinion from the famous international law experts MATRIX CHAMBERS who said there were no legal barriers to an EU-wide ban. It is time for the Commission to stop giving excuses and to ban this cat and dog fur trade once and for all.

Commissioner Byrne leaves his post at the end of this month and Commissioner Markos Kyprianou from Cyprus becomes the new Health & Consumer Affairs Commissioner. He could make a major impact within his first days in office by announcing a Europe-wide ban. The citizens of Europe would back him to the hilt and we could put a stop to this awful trade.

But if we don't act now, the killing will continue.

STRUAN STEVENSON MEP