Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-13-Speech-3-335"
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"en.20001213.12.3-335"2
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"Mr President, I brought my carrots with me but wisely I did not, like Mrs Thyssen, attempt to eat them, although both would have passed the Lannoye test. I never believed that my last speech in this House in the twentieth century would be about sodium alginates. But I could have bet that it would be in reply to a debate initiated by Mr Lannoye because he is an indefatigable champion of the consumer in matters great and small.
In my humble opinion these matters are relatively small – perhaps as small as these pieces of carrot. I confess that I have some personal doubts about the dangers of E-401 but the dangers are not really, in the end, what this is about. Our food authority in the UK has argued at length to me that sodium alginate is harmless, permitted in the US and many countries, has been around since the 1930s and, as far as laxatives are concerned, has less effect than we would find in fruit or cereal fibre and infinitely less than you would get from a mouthful of seaweed in a Japanese restaurant. So much for the scientific approach.
Why then do I support Mr Lannoye? And my comrades in the PSE Group will do the same. For several reasons, and this is where he performs such a singular service in our debates. Firstly, he says: "What is the consumer benefit?” We can see the manufacturer's benefit that this piece of carrot stays orange and does not turn grey. But what is the consumer benefit in that?
Secondly, where is the preparedness of industry to come forward and accept that some of the many additives we have can be struck off? Nobody says that. Nobody comes to tell us. Until they do we should support Mr Lannoye and his amendments and wish him a happy New Year."@en1
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