This may rub animal-rights activists the wrong way, but the fur debate has taken a new twist. Eugene Lapointe, former secretary-general of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, has recently stated: "Real fur garments are much less polluting to manufacture than synthetic faux furs, which are made with some of the most toxic chemicals known to man.'' Naturally the Fur Council of Canada has seized on Lapointe's statement and issued a press release in which it points out: "A jacket made of synthetics is likely to be discarded after a few years' use, but will take at least 500 years to be broken down in the earth. By contrast, a real fur coat can be restyled and used for decades and will biodegrade rapidly when returned to the soil."

65,000: number of people employed
in Canada's real fur industry

$800 million: amount Canada's real fur industry
contributes to annual GDP

Source: Fur Council of Canada