Wool Industry Welcomes Pink's Retraction  1/17/07

Pop punk Pink has appeased Australia's wool industry by confessing she didn't carry out enough research before urging a boycott of the country's produce.

The Stupid Girl hit maker provoked a storm of controversy when she signed up to a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign slamming the practice of sheep mulesing - the surgical removal of strips of wool-bearing wrinkle skin from around the tail of a sheep to prevent fly strike - as cruel.

The campaign suggested Australia was one of the main culprits of mulesing and encouraged concerned consumers to overlook the country's woollen produce.

However, the singer now admits she was misinformed and Robert Peach, president of WoolProducers, has welcomed her frank apology.

He says, "She's been totally caught out and we appreciate that she's retracted it.

"But in the meantime, it has done the industry some damage.

"We as industry have really taken this whole issue of animal welfare very seriously over a long period of time.

"It's just sad that people like Pink actually don't do the research before they make the sort of statements they do."