From
Left to Right:Mike Weatherley champions consumer choice of vitamin supplements
From
Left to Right:
Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell, and Shadow Minister for Public Services, Health & Education
Mike Weatherley
Janine Alford, Manager of Holland and Barret in North Street Brighton
Councillor Ann Norman, Withdean Councillor and Brighton and Hove Council Opposition Spokesman for Adult Social Care and Health
Mike
Weatherley, Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, was
today accompanied by Chris Grayling MP, Conservative spokesman
on Nutrition, Obesity and Complimentary Healthcare,
and Councillor
Mrs Ann Norman, Conservative Health Spokesman on Brighton and Hove City Council,
visited
Holland and Barrett health food shop in North Street, Brighton. They were there
to highlight the Conservatives campaign to save the vitamins and mineral tablets
used by millions of British people. These supplements are used frequently
used in the cold season, and the mineral Boron, important for strong bones and
teeth, are set to become illegal once recently passed European laws are fully
introduced. Many more specialist
vitamins that have been used safely by UK consumers for many years will also
disappear. Almost every multi-vitamin tablet sold in Britain will have to be
reformulated to avoid breaking the law.
Under the new
European Food Supplements Directive, vitamins like 1gm Vitamin C – currently
on sale in health stores across the
city will be banned. This is not for safety reasons but in the name of
‘European harmonisation’. Conservatives have launched an online petition,
working in partnership with the pressure group Consumers for Health Choice who
are distributing postcards and posters to local health food stores.
Mike
said:
“Labour
have let down millions of vitamins and food supplements users by rubber-stamping
the badly drafted European Food Supplements Directive. It is too late to reverse that decision, but it is not too
late to change the way that the laws will be enforced and the small print. It is
still possible to save many vitamin and health supplements that people across Brighton
and Hove have been using safely for years.
The
European Commission has still to decide many final details. It is still possible
to save many products; but that will not happen unless the Government works hard
on our behalf. Right now, that’s not happening.”
Chris the MP for Epsom
and Ewell added:
“There
are two main reasons why this directive threatens the future availability of
many safe and popular vitamin and mineral supplements in the United Kingdom.
1. The
Directive contains a list of nutrients and nutrient sources which can be
used in food supplements. If a nutrient is not on the “positive list” it
cannot be used. Over 250 nutrients and nutrient sources that are already on the
UK market which are not included in the Directive. Although manufacturers
have until July 2005 in which to submit dossiers of detailed scientific data to
support applications for inclusion on the “positive list”, producing these
will be very expensive and we have established that many manufacturers simply
will be unable to afford the costs involved. This will deny consumers access to
safe nutrients of their choice, some of which have been on the UK market
for decades.
2.
The Directive provides that maximum levels of nutrients will be set for
supplements and that it will be illegal to market supplements that contain
higher levels than these. We believe that such maximum permitted levels should
be set on the basis of safety - if a product is safe, consumers should be able
to choose to buy it. The Directive provides that the maximum permitted level may
be set at or close to this upper safe level, but does not require that this
should be the case. Under pressure from the pharmaceutical lobby and from
the French and German Governments this provision of the Directive could be
interpreted in a restrictive manner so that only low-level supplements
would be allowed. This would see many safe, popular and effective higher
potency supplements removed from the UK market.”
Ann
Norman said:
“Freedom of choice is right at the heart of Conservative thinking. No-where more so, than on health-care. This is bureaucracy at its worst. Thousands of people will find that they are no longer able to buy the herbal remedies of their choice. And all because a few large pharmaceutical companies are keen to squeeze out their smaller competitors, and have managed to get Brussels to do their bidding. I call upon local residents to sign our e-petition at www.conservatives.com/vitamins. With the public’s help, we can force Ministers to preserve access to these products on behalf of Brighton and Hove’s consumers. This might be our last chance to change this unnecessary and damaging EU legislation.”
Notes:
Conservatives,
supported by the actress Jenny Seagrove and ‘Consumers for Health Choice’
have launched a new campaign to put pressure on the Government to step in and
get the right deal in Brussels. A nationwide e-petition has been launched at
www.conservatives.com/vitamins to put renewed pressure on Ministers and to make
them realise how strongly people feel.
The
pressure group Consumers for Health Choice is also distributing one million
postcards and posters to health food stores around the country telling their
customers about this new Conservative campaign and asking them to support it.
The
text of the Directive is available at:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2002/l_183/l_18320020712en00510057.pdf
Chris
Grayling MP