Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-13-Speech-2-287"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010213.12.2-287"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I am glad to be able to follow someone who has so vigorously supported the Labour Government, as Mr Bowis just did. I would also like to congratulate the rapporteur after the sometimes stormy passage of her report and the mini-ambush which she almost suffered tonight.
In the UK we are the largest manufacturer – and indeed consumer – of health supplements of one kind or another, vitamin and mineral supplements to the diet. We have been stringent in ensuring that false claims are never made for them, and that is why in the UK they have never been marketed as medicines. But they do bring benefits to millions who would accept that they are a supplement to, but not a substitute for, a balanced diet. We believe that the upper safe levels are sufficient to make the difference between foods and medicines even clearer. Obviously the situation is different in some other Member States, and any attempt to regularise the position makes sense in the general context of emergent food law.
I support the rapporteur's view that all substances which have been validly in use in the Member States, according to the laws of those countries, should continue until such time as they can be tested and perhaps found wanting. I rather doubt if many will be, and I do not think that the annexes themselves contain anything like the number of exceptions that we should see.
With every day that passes, we hear of other substances which are causing concern because they may be excluded. That is why the word physiological – and I would beg the rapporteur to think again even at this late hour – is important in terms of people who are genuine sufferers and who derive great benefit from these products. We ought to hear from the Commissioner tonight that there will be measured progress towards effective analysis by the requisite deadline, be that 2004 or later. Effective labelling, so that the consumers can choose both the context and the regularity of what they are getting, is the best way forward. That will help many consumers and worry none."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples