(U.K.) Government 'has given in to EU ban on health food supplements'

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=597349

 

 

Government 'has given in to EU ban on health food supplements'

By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

 

03 January 2005

 

Ministers were accused of hypocrisy yesterday over an EU directive

which could force health shops to stop selling a number of remedies

and food supplements used by cancer sufferers and obese people.

 

The row is over attempts by the EU to ban food supplements and

vitamin-based products which could be harmful in large doses, and for

which the makers have made exaggerated health claims. But campaigners

including Carole Caplin, the self-styled health and lifestyle guru,

and the actress Jenny Seagrove say hundreds of remedies will be

included in the ban.

 

Ms Caplin told MPs at a protest meeting that the directive will ban

the sale of supplements containing calcium, magnesium and boron used

for strengthening brittle bones and by patients with hip

replacements; nutrient supplements and antioxidants for cancer

sufferers; food supplements to reduce obesity; and folic acid

supplements for women to reduce neural tube defects such as spina

bifida in babies.

 

Health ministers have assured consumers, retailers and manufacturers

of health foods that they are doing all they can to ensure safe

remedies are not banned.

 

But EU documents obtained by The Independent reveal that the

Government's lawyers have said the UK does not dispute the basis for

the new regulations that threaten the sale of many health food

products.

 

In a submission to the European Court of Justice, where a case is

being heard, officials from the Treasury solicitor's office said the

new rules were not disproportionate and did not breach the principle

of subsidiarity, which allows the UK to determine its own rules.

 

Furious campaigners accused the Government of hypocrisy. Sue Croft,

the director of Consumers for Health Choice, said: " The Government is

saying one thing to consumers, to industry and to Parliament while

pursuing quite a different course in its negotiations with the EU. "

 

The organisation is threatening to raise the issue in marginal Labour

seats in the general election to put pressure on the Government.

 

Ms Caplin told MPs the Government had said it was committed to

improving public health but its strategy was made a nonsense by

ignoring the threat to safe and effective products.

 

Ms Seagrove said EU officials have professed profound scepticism at

the suggestion that there were up to 300 missing nutrients from its

approved list. She accused the Health minister, Melanie Johnson, of

having " no interest in supplements " saying she had " consistently

failed to act on behalf of the 21 million British consumers who use

them " .

 

The Food Supplements Directive will outlaw products containing

ingredients not on its list of permitted substances. The list was

drawn up for baby foods. The campaigners say there is no evidence

that the ingredients are unsafe for adults. But the UK lawyers said

the list was a " suitable starting point " for the regulations.

 

Chris Grayling, the Tory health spokesman, who is backing the

campaigners, said: " This is sheer hypocrisy by the Government. "

 

Ms Johnson, who has led the negotiations with the health food

industry, said the UK could exempt products, if a detailed dossier

reasoning why was submitted by the manufacturers. But all the

ingredients that might be exempted must have been on the market

before the directive was adopted in July 2002, she said.

 

The directive lists 28 vitamins and minerals and 112 sources from

which they were derived for use in food supplements, which can be

sold legally after it comes into force on 1 August.