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		EU to ban cat and dog fur trade Thursday 9th June 2005 Conservatives celebrate breakthrough after long campaign Conservative MEP Roger Helmer is celebrating today after European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Markus Kyprianou announced he intends to ban the import, export and trade in cat and dog fur in the EU following a six-year campaign by Conservative MEPs. Addressing a meeting of the Parliament's animal welfare intergroup, the Commissioner said: "I plan to deal with this problem because there is political will to do so. There are legal problems but I've asked my team to find solutions". Items made from cat and dog fur are widely available for sale across the EU. Often they are not labelled, or are falsely labelled with names of exotic species like "Arctic fox" or "Asian jackal". Goods include garments, rugs and novelty soft toys such as toy cats made of dog fur. Speaking from Strasbourg Mr Helmer welcomed the speech by saying: "There are 300 million pet owners in the EU who will applaud his initiative. Since the US, Australia and New Zealand banned the import and trade in cat and dog fur, Europe has become a dumping ground. "Over two million cats and dogs a year are brutally killed and sometimes skinned alive, just to supply fur products to the EU market. Most of these skins come from China where there are no animal welfare regulations and where cats and dogs are reared and slaughtered in appalling conditions”. "It is the duty of all cat and dog lovers to do everything possible to support Commissioner Kyprianou in his courageous quest to introduce an EU-wide ban."