Commission proposal for EU beef hormones ban

Commission proposal for EU beef hormones ban

Commission proposal for EU beef hormones ban

UK Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has called for firm scientific evidence to justify proposals by the European Commission to amend existing Community legislation on the use of hormones as growth promoters in meat and permanently ban a hormone which is used as a growth promoter in food-producing animals.

The Commission proposes a permanent ban on the use of 17ß oestradiol for growth promotion and also, for the first time, when used for therapeutic uses and to regulate the reproductive cycle. Five other growth-promoting hormones would also be provisionally banned pending further scientific information.

The Commission's Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health (SCVPH) in a new report says it considered evidence from a sub-group of the UK's independent Veterinary Products Committee which had concluded that the scientific evidence in an earlier SCVPH report did not support the Community ban on the use of hormonal growth promoters. Similar evidence was provided by the Commission's own Committee on Veterinary Medical Products (CVMP) and the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).

However, the SCVPH has not answered the scientific arguments and facts advanced in the two reports and cites no new evidence to support its opinion. Without such evidence, the UK continues to question the scientific case for the ban.

Nick Brown said:

A group of independent UK experts comprehensively reviewed the original SCVPH report last year. They advised me that the scientific evidence available at the time did not support the ban on the use of hormonal growth promoters in food producing animals and the import from third countries of meat and meat products derived from animals treated with these substances. This conclusion was later reinforced by those of the commission's own CVMP and the JECFA.

Unless new scientific evidence is made available for a full evaluation by independent UK experts, the position of the UK Government is unchanged. We do not accept that the scientific case for a ban has been made. We will, however, continue to fulfil our European obligations by enforcing the ban in the United Kingdom.