The following statement has been agreed upon by the principals involved.

In May 2001, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Greenpeace informed Talbots shareholders that their majority shareholder, AEON, sold whale, dolphin, and porpoise products in its stores in Japan. At that time, we called on our respective members to help bring attention to this issue by participating in educational demonstrations and sending letters and postcards to Talbots.

We, and our constituents, asked Talbots to facilitate discussion with AEON to help stop the sale of whale, dolphin, and porpoise products in AEON-owned stores in Japan. We are delighted to report that AEON and the coalition have reached a mutual understanding.

We have been meeting with AEON representatives in order to consider how best to facilitate whale, dolphin, and porpoise conservation, and how to protect and inform consumers. Over the past two years, our meetings have been extremely productive and informative. We have exchanged much information and many ideas. During these discussions, AEON learned of our organizations' long-standing commitment to protecting and conserving cetaceans, and we learned of AEON's sincere and long-standing commitment to the environment and to its consumers.

We are happy to report that AEON has voluntarily decided on a substantial reduction in the sale of whale products in AEON group stores. They have also decided to stop selling all small cetacean products and all coastal cetacean products, as some of these products have been associated with higher levels of contaminants. Further, they have decided to stop selling all canned cetacean products.

AEON's decision to dramatically reduce the number of stores selling cetacean products and the amount of such products for sale will directly benefit the conservation of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

This has been a cooperative effort between animal protection and environmental organizations, and an international corporation. We are proud of the progress that has been made, and we respect AEON's decision, which will help to conserve whale, dolphin, and porpoise populations.

We also would like to thank the memberships of The Humane Society of the United States, the Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace for their support and dedication to this issue.