Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-670-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110705.39.2-670-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I can no longer count the number of times over the past 14 or 15 years that I have spoken here in Parliament on subjects relating to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), animal health and, most importantly, consumer protection and human health. In 1997 I was the chair of the BSE committee and since then I have had the opportunity to speak perhaps 20, 30 or 40 times on the subject.
We have a report here to discuss today and to vote on tomorrow, which concerns another Commission road map. At this point, I would like to thank the Commission, Mr Dalli and his colleagues once again for their cooperation. Over all the years that we have been dealing with BSE, this cooperation has been of a consistently high quality and I am grateful for this. However, this has not always been the case. If the situation in the 1980s and 1990s had been similar, we would have perhaps had fewer problems, but, thank goodness, things have changed over recent years.
The road map contains essential technical sections, but it also has sections relating to the content which are important in political terms. I would like to refer to some of them, but I will not be able to cover all of them because of a lack of time. In all of the proposals which I am asking you to accept tomorrow, safeguarding the health of consumers is, of course, the highest priority.
In recent years, we have introduced several amendments to the legislation on BSE and TSEs and, rightly so, when you consider that in 2001 we had 2 167 cases of animals with BSE in the European Union, while in 2009 the figure was only 67. This alone shows what a quantum leap forward has been taken in animal health and also in consumer protection.
Tomorrow we will have to look at the question of whether we want to continue on this path. I have made a few proposals relating to the content which will also help us to continue reducing the risk of BSE and TSEs. However, I would like to focus here on one proposal and that is the question of the ban on feeding meat and bone meal to omnivores which are not ruminants, in other words, not sheep, goats and cattle.
In 2001, in the light of the BSE crisis and the BSE scandal, a ban on feeding meat and bone meal to pigs and poultry in particular was introduced. At no point did this have any scientific basis; it was purely a political decision. At that time we had to admit that contaminated meat and bone meal had been fed to cattle. This was highly unethical because cattle are ruminants and herbivores and should not eat meat and bone meal. This contributed to the BSE crisis and, therefore, there was a complete ban on feeding meat and bone meal which also covered omnivores, in other words, animals which eat animal protein and, in particular, pigs and poultry.
I would like to propose to you now, just as the Commission is doing, that we go back and say that if we can produce these products safely, then we must also be able to feed them. There is no point in us eating only about one third of an animal and not eating the rest of the animal which is fit for human consumption, but also not being allowed to reuse it to feed other animals.
Therefore, we must amend this regulation. We are importing large quantities of protein crops, soya in particular, from the USA and Brazil, all of which have been genetically modified. That is not an acceptable alternative. We need our own high-quality, safe supply from within the European Union. The manufacturing method used must meet the relevant standards and we must also ensure that no cannibalism occurs. In other words, pigs must only eat meat and bone meal made from poultry and vice versa. The Commission can make sure that this is what happens.
I hope that tomorrow, following the very positive cooperation, a large majority will be in favour of taking this next step towards returning the situation to normal."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples