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Environment
and Consumer
Food Supplements
Following the adoption of the EU's
Food Supplements Directive in 2003, the Conservative
Party launched a campaign to highlight its dramatic impact on the sale of vitamins in the United Kingdom.
Under this law, 300 supplements on sale in the United Kingdom could
be banned or restricted - unless they can obtain authorisation for inclusion in
the positive list.
It means many
vitamins have to be reformulated and others, such as the 1000mg
Vitamin C tablets of the kind sold in supermarkets, could be banned.
Conservatives
want food supplements to be regulated by setting an upper safety
limit, but leaving consumers and their advisers to decide what level
below that to take.
John Bowis said:
"British
consumers should have the right to choose what quantity of vitamin
supplements they want to buy. There is not a single recorded case
of a death caused by an overdose of vitamin supplements. This Directive
is not about consumer safety, but about the EU interfering in people's
lives.
"Many of
the vitamins are produced by small and medium-sized firms that would
find it difficult to afford the new authorisation process and if
they are banned, then many hundreds of thousands of people will
cease to have access to the supplement of their choice.
"Conservative
MEPs voted to throw out the proposal but it went through with support
of Labour MEPs. It is now up to the Labour Government to defend
the choice of the millions of people who use vitamins and minerals.
I urge everyone to sign the Conservatives' petition."
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