Bank of England governor Mark Carney poses with a new polymer five pound note at Whitecross Street Market in London, Britain September 13, 2016. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo)
London: A petition calling for the Bank of England to remove a new banknote from circulation had on Tuesday received more than 70,000 signatures, with critics angry it is produced with animal product.
Britain's new plastic five-pound notes, bearing the portrait of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, were unveiled in September, with the Bank of England extolling the new banknotes for being waterproof and having enhanced security features.
But the central bank has this week come under fire for using tallow, a product derived from animal fats, in the polymer pellets used to make the £5 notes.
A Change.org petition calling for animal products to be removed from banknotes has now gained more than 70,000 signatures.
"This is unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the UK," the petition reads.
Doug Maw, a 47-year-old vegan who started the petition, said the use of tallow was "incredibly disrespectful".
"We have no choice with money. We have to use it. They issue it through ATMs and hand them to us in shops.
"If we refuse them and they haven't got anything else, what are we going to do? Basically, we are being forced to have animal products on us," Maw told the Press Association.
The Bank of England on Tuesday confirmed the substance of the banknotes, without commenting further on the criticism.
"Tallow is derived from animal fats (suet) and is a substance that is also widely used in the manufacture of candles and soap," a spokesperson told AFP.
The new, light-blue five pound notes are smaller and stronger, with more security features than their predecessors, with the aim of making them harder to counterfeit.
A plastic 10-pound note featuring the author of "Pride and Prejudice", Jane Austen, is due to appear next year.
The Bank of England said its supplier of currency, Innovia, is working toward removing the use of animal fat in the production of its new plastic five pound note after objection raised by thousands of vegetarians.
The bank said it did not know about traces of tallow, which contains animal fats, in the production of the currency when it signed the contract with Innovia.
"We are aware of some people's concerns about traces of tallow in our new five pound note. We respect those concerns and are treating them with the utmost seriousness," the bank said in a statement.
