VANCOUVER, Apr 15 (LSN) - Lawyers for the federal government submitted written arguments yesterday in the B.C. Court of Appeal to fight Justice Duncan Shaw’s controversial legalization of the possession of child pornography. Judge Shaw raised a national firestorm several months ago when he concluded (on the bases of only two ‘studies’ submitted in the case) that “there is no evidence that the production of child pornography will be significantly reduced if simple possession is made a crime.” With extensive evidence to the contrary, federal lawyer Judith Bowers noted that pornography “fuels the sexual fantasies of pedophiles and will lead some to act upon their fantasies and abuse children.” Bowers argued that child porn fosters the “cognitive distortion” that sex between children and adults is normal. She also noted that child porn is used by pedophiles to “groom” children by presenting pedophilia as normal. “The Charter was not intended to permit any group to pursue self-fulfillment at the expense of another group.” For a study on the effects of child-sexual abuse see: http://www.nffre.org/html/documents/child_abuse/analysis_of_the_published_re search_on_the_effects_of_child_sexual_abuse.html For more on the federal gov’ts appeal of the Shaw ruling see: http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/news/990415NEW09_NA-PORN15.html