This week the European Parliament is meeting in Strasbourg for a plenary session. The legislation to be voted on includes legislation on cosmetic products which will ensure they are safe and that misleading claims such as 'reduces wrinkles' are only allowed if they can be scientifically proven.We will also be agreeing legislation on the framework for approving 'novel foods'. These are foods which are produced using new techniques and technologies and whose safety needs to be assessed before they can be sold in our supermarkets. Examples include new breeding techniques or cholesterol-lowering foods. We will be agreeing the criteria for rigorous safety assessments before these foods can be approved.
Both these proposals are prime examples of why, because the single market means that our businesses can sell to over 500 million consumers from Buxton to Budapest, we must also have common rules to ensure those products, be they cosmetics or foods, are safe. Some of it is by nature very technical (and with good reason!) and it is difficult to communicate this in a 'sexy' way. But nonetheless it is hugely important to have these regulations in place to ensure the day to day products we put on our skin and in our mouths do not damage our health.
I have always been intruiged by the validity of the claims made in adverts with the "pseudo scientific" language. Is society's desperate attempts to postpone the ageing process and remain ever youthful actually costing us our health? How ironic. I would be interested in the outcome as I would appreciate having some kind of indicator to which products live up to their expectations and to which I can trust. This is in my opinion a good example of where the EU can make a positive intervention in the lives of it's citezens.
ReplyDeletei have tryed to post a comment but it obvousley has not been posted. Why have these areaners if you are not willing to put the general publics opinions up if they don't corrospond to your own?
ReplyDeleteGary Steel