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A European Commission-sponsored analysis of the economic, social and environmental impact of the policy options for the establishment of maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements was undertaken in summer 2008. Seven member states were used as case studies, including the United Kingdom. The UK food supplements industry, including organisations representing SMEs, engaged fully in this work and provided relevant data. The European Commission has indicated that this assessment will accompany its proposals on maximum levels when they are issued.
The timing for finalising the proposals on maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements is uncertain due to European Parliamentary elections during June and European Commission college changes in October. At the last working group meeting with all member states on 4 December 2008, the European Commission advised that draft proposals outlining maximum levels for vitamins and minerals would be discussed at the next full working group meeting, a date for which has not been set.
Regarding Regulation (EC) No 764/2008 on mutual recognition, decisions on whether products should be classified as herbal medicinal products, and on the authorisation of herbal medicinal products, are the
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The FSA has advised that measures taken by the authorities of member states pursuant to provisions of food law of general application are explicitly exempted from the requirements of the Mutual Recognition Regulation. These exemptions relate to measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law) in relation to risks to health arising from food, and measures taken under Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 (official feed and food controls) in ensuring that food business operators remedy non-compliance with food law.
The European Commission is producing guidance on the application of the Mutual Recognition Regulation to different foodstuffs, including food supplements.
Gurkhas
Question
Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Gurkha soldiers left the Army upon completion of their service in each year between 1975 and 1997. [HL4108]
The Minister for International Defence and Security (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The information for the time period requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Health: Bisphenol Exposure
Questions
Asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health impact of bisphenol A in the manufacturing of plastic bottles. [HL3963]
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider banning the use of bisphenol A in the manufacturing of (a) babies' feeding bottles, and (b) all plastic bottles containing food or drink. [HL3964]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of increased levels of bisphenol A in the growth of children; and what assessment they have made of the potential health dangers that chemical is likely to induce. [HL3965]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The Food Standards Agency (FSA) works closely with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission to ensure the safety of food contact products containing bisphenol A (BPA), and to ensure it is kept under review.
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The health impact of BPA was assessed by EFSA in 2006 and after a comprehensive review of the scientific data, a tolerable daily intake of 0.05 milligrams per kilogram of body weight was established. This is the amount that can be eaten every day, over a whole lifetime, without causing appreciable harm.
In July and October 2008 EFSA confirmed that this evaluation would also apply to infants and pregnant women. Dietary exposures of age groups from three months to adults have been found to be less than 30 per cent of the tolerable daily intake.
The Government’s policy is to maintain the stricter level for BPA that currently applies in the law governing food contact materials, including baby feeding bottles, which is based on an earlier precautionary tolerable daily intake of 0.01 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per day. I am advised that the FSA sees no basis, on the evidence we have, to press for tighter controls on the use of BPA, or for a ban on its use. Limits in place throughout the European Union, which the FSA has played a full part in establishing and maintaining, provide a precautionary margin of safety beyond expert assessment of the scientific evidence.
Health: Contaminated Blood Products
Question
Asked by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will respond to the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry on NHS Supplied Contaminated Blood and Blood Products that the Government should review the conditions under which the widow of a patient infected by blood products now becomes eligible for financial assistance. [HL3972]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The Government responded to the recommendations of Lord Archer’s report on 20 May 2009. We have committed to review the Skipton Fund, for those infected with hepatitis C, in 2014.
Payments to widows of those infected with HIV are made at the discretion of the trustees of the MacFarlane and Eileen Trusts.
Health: Haemophilia
Questions
Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 14 May (WA 229—30) on the implications for haemophilia patients of a post-mortem having found vCJD in the spleen of one such patient, what was the outcome of the CJD Incidents Panel's consideration of the case and its implications on 20 May; who attended the panel's meeting; and why it was not held nearer to the date of the postmortem. [HL3959]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD) incidents panel, at its meeting on 20 May 2009, reviewed all available information in relation to the postmortem finding of abnormal prion protein associated with variant CID (vCJD) in a sample from the spleen of a haemophiliac.
The panel concluded that there is no evidence to change the current advice to those patients who used United Kingdom sourced pooled plasma products between 1980 and 2001 already notified as being at risk of vCJD for public health purposes, or to notify any new groups of patients.
Letters confirming this conclusion will be sent to UK Haemophilia Centre Doctors with information to pass on to their patients.
The panel meeting was attended by:
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The meeting was held after all the evidence in this case, including multiple sets of case notes, hospital records and records of blood product usage, had been collected and reviewed and a full risk assessment prepared. Papers about this case are being prepared for publication and the risk assessment will be published on the department's website at dh.gov.uk on 9 June 2009.
Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 14 May (WA 229—30), whether it remains the view of the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health that any risk to haemophilia patients of contracting vCJD from blood given from donors who subsequently died of vCJD is hypothetical. [HL3960]
Lord Darzi of Denham: There have been no clinical cases of vCJD amongst people with haemophilia who have been treated with United Kingdom-derived pooled plasma products or UK-derived coagulation factors. The view of the department, the chief medical officer and the Health Protection Agency remains that first set out in 2004, that patients who have been treated with UK-sourced pooled factor concentrates and antithrombin between 1980 and 2001 are at increased risk of vCJD for public health purposes.
Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the statement by Lord Thomas of Gresford on 23 April (Official Report, House of Lords, col. 1613) in the debate on the use of NHS blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C in the treatment of haemophilia patients that if Ministers chose to back-date as necessary the waiving of Crown immunity it would still be possible for actions to be brought by those afflicted or bereaved by the contamination. [HL3961]
Lord Darzi of Denham: Crown immunity did not protect from civil suit, but only from prosecution under the Medicines Act. Some affected persons did bring an action in 1990, which was settled out of court. Affected persons did and do therefore have rights of redress in civil law.
Houses of Parliament: Demonstrations
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they approved the charging with public-order offences of recent demonstrators in Parliament Square, who sat down in the road, thus causing traffic disruptions and impeding access to Parliament. [HL4021]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The decision to charge individuals with public-order offences or any offences is an operational matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service who are responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged criminal offences.
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To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ask the police to delete images, photographic or other, of Members of both Houses of Parliament who visited recent demonstrations in Parliament Square and the surrounding area. [HL4022]
Lord West of Spithead: It is a matter for the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to decide whether images of individuals taken at demonstrations in the force area are retained or deleted.
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