Sam Setter's 'Pills': For readers who need some wry medicinal humour

Mario Pucci
First, I would like to pay tribute to my friend Mario Pucci, former head of communications and international activities of Italian ASSOMAC, who left us on June 2nd. My sincere condolences to Antonella, Mrs Pucci.

Savar
It’s extremely sad to note that Bangladesh is lifting the export ban on raw hides and wet blue leathers, as happened in Ethiopia. It’s a clear indication of the failure of the value addition export strategy for leather and of the epic mistakes made with the planning of the Savar leather district. All the meetings and conferences organised to sustain and improve the industry were just spending foreign development money on consultants and meetings. The Bangladeshi leather industry has demonstrated over and again that it is capable of producing good quality crust and finished leather, and good quality finished leather products. Hence all the money spent to teach them what they already know was pure waste! What really counts for the Bangladeshi leather industry is to upgrade and update the central effluent treatment plant in the Savar leather district, which has been over the years a total ecological disgrace. That’s the top, top, top priority. It seems that the Savar CETP has a new management team and that the first steps are being taken to upgrade and expand the plant to make it compliant with local and international legal requirements. It seems a Chinese company now manages the solid tannery and CETP, which will hopefully resolve the problem of the unsafe dumping of the waste. However, the ecological problem of the Savar industrial area is not limited to the CETP and the solid waste but is also closely connected with the infrastructure of the industrial area. The sewerage system is totally insufficient. Drainage pipes from the tanneries to the CETP have an insufficient diameter to allow proper streaming of the liquid effluent. In fact, the streets of Savar are frequently flooded with tannery effluent. Unless these subjects are properly attended to, all the blah-blah and spending of taxpayer money will lead to little or nothing.

Reality check 1
When the USA imposed heavy import duties on practically the whole world, penguins included, the Chinese leather and leather goods manufacturers gave the same world a reality check. Leather bags produced in China, totally comparable with leather bags produced by or for the major brands, have been offered at somewhere around 10% of the price of the similar bags marketed by the top brands, and the seller still of course makes a profit. Fact is that the Brands buy or produce their bags from manufacturers in Europe or in China at similar prices for similar models. The point is that the brands buy cheap, similar to the prices recently offered by Chinese producers to the global market, but they sell at prices after multiplying their purchased price 20,30,40 and even 100 times.
Most consumers are unable to distinguish real leather from alternative products or corrected leather from full grain. Are they able to distinguish a real top brand product from a copy, apart from the brand logo?

Reality check 2
Although conditions have been softened, it is clear that the EU bureaucracy will not change its mind and hence will impose the EUDR in 2026 on the leather industry, even though it is not a driver for deforestation. Rather than just talking and making mere presentations (and money on the side) as a means of assisting the leather industry to understand and to become compliant with the EU Regulation, UNIC has a more practical and financially accessible approach. UNIC is preparing the launch of a web portal where one can enter the locations of hides, skin and leather suppliers, which will be evaluated through satellite map software to verify that they are not in deforested areas. And in addition, it will allow the user to verify the compliance of operators with the ESG standards of their respective countries (another requirement of the EUDR) through public and specially created databases (also through questionnaires to the operators themselves). It will be in Italian and English. 

EUDR
COTANCE and UNIC managed to be invited through the Italian European Member of Parliament Salvatore De Meo on June 3rd to present to the EU commission arguments and the scientifically backed proof that leather is not a driver for deforestation. The leather industry was represented by UNIC, Cotance, Kerry Senior (representing ICT and UKLF) and LHCA (Leather and Hide Council of America). Furthermore, there were EU and overseas (USA, Argentina, Turkey, Australia) leather related associations, all obviously aligned against the inclusion of leather in the EUDR, and of course none of the leather related ONGs that actually profit from the EUDR deforestation directive. The fact that there are no comments concerning this meeting by the ONGs on social media posts or in general, says it all: without EUDR limiting the leather industry, they make less money!
Whether this meeting will bring the desired result that leather will be excluded from the EUDR directive on deforestation is to be hoped for but in reality, doubtful, in spite of the scientific proof submitted to the commission. Regretfully in politics ideology, not science, occupies the front row. So now we have to sit back and wait until the commission decides its position.