life as i know it...: Costco reverses decision to remove seal oil capsules

Costco reverses decision to remove seal oil capsules

Update below

Well, it seems that Costco has reversed its decision to remove seal oil capsules from the shelves of its Canadian stores.

The U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who claimed that it convinced Costco to remove the capsules, is angry, and has added the company to its boycott. The Society claimed that it convinced Costco to remove the capsules in protest of the seal hunt. Costco replied that it was a "business decision", and denied any affiliation with the Society.

Thanks to kodak for blogging about this - I hadn't heard the news!

April 10th update: Goodness, now the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is disputing seal oil's status as a health product. They released their own study, in which they list toxins they apparently found in the oil, and in which they call seal oil "snake oil".

On a related note...

I mentioned prejudicial remarks against Newfoundlanders in my April 4th post, including those of Paul Watson, the head of Sea Shepherd. I just read some information about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Activist Cash, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom which provides information about anti-consumer activist groups (select Sea Shepherd from the 'Activist Groups' dropdown menu). The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers, so I'd like to do some independent research about the Sea Shepherd, but the article makes some pretty shocking claims:

"SSCS’s mission is to stop fishing of which it disapproves. Its preferred methods? Ramming and sinking fishing ships, throwing butyric acid on their decks, and firing machine guns. Watson argues that United Nations resolutions authorize him to commit violent acts. But he regularly interferes with fisherman and hunters who are committing no crime."

"Sporting the skull and crossbones, his black or battleship-gray ships sail menacingly through the waves. They are painted with the names of the boats Watson has rammed and sunk. ... The group has sunk at least ten ships in Iceland, Norway, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, and the Canary Islands."

"Watson was a founder [of Greenpeace]. But Watson’s violent tactics became too much for Greenpeace, which kicked him out in 1977, after he assaulted seal hunters. Watson now assails his old comrades for being too wimpy, calling Greenpeace “the Avon ladies of the environmental movement.”

"Of his native Canada, Watson has said he “despise[s] its government and dislike[s] its people.” Scandinavians, meanwhile, are “the children of the rapers of Ireland and executioners of the Celts.” The “bloodlust of these Viking offspring” who hunt whales made him “ashamed” of his Danish ancestry. And Watson once shouted through a megaphone at Makah Indians on a whale hunt: “Just because you were born stupid doesn’t give you any right to be stupid.”