4 July 2008 - The South East’s Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas continued her campaign for a ban on the import of seal products into the European Union this week, when she took to the stage at a large demonstration in the centre of Brussels.

The campaign to end the import of seal products into EU countries and to call on governments to halt the brutal mass slaughter of thousands of seal pups each year was stepped up in April after fresh evidence emerged of the extent of cruel practices in the Canadian seal hunt.

Commenting on this week’s ‘Stop the Cruelty - Ban The Trade’ rally in Brussels, organised by European animal welfare groups and attended by over 500 people from across the EU, Dr Lucas MEP commented:

“Parliamentarians have time and again called for action on the mass seal culls that take place every year. The supposed ‘guarantees’ that future culls will be carried out humanely are insufficient and unworkable.

“Only a complete ban on the import of seal products into the EU will show that enough is enough, and prove to governments that barbaric annual displays of animal cruelty will no longer be tolerated.”

The Brussels demonstration took place outside the European Commission building on July 1st. Speeches from Dr Lucas MEP and Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter were accompanied by testimonies from NGO representatives and eyewitness accounts of seal culling.

ENDS