Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.
The health of animals regulations are not different for different types of exports. My position and the evidence are that, in practice, the way horses are exported for slaughter is different.
On the point about refuelling, I have never seen a shipment of horses that has left Canada for Japan that has not refuelled. Generally, they refuel in Alaska. Occasionally, there are other locations. My understanding is that due to the weight of the aircraft carrying so many horses, they do refuel. If there are examples where they haven't, I'd be very interested to see that, but certainly I've never seen an instance when that hasn't happened.
On the point about scientific evidence, I come before you as a lawyer, absolutely not as a scientist—I'm the first to admit that—so what I would say is that you have a brief before you from 34 leading veterinarians and animal welfare experts. I commend that brief to you. We've also put forward a more extensive report that sets out some of the scientific concerns, and I commend that to you as well.