Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-22-Speech-4-013"
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"en.19990722.2.4-013"2
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"(NL) Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, you are what you eat. This popular maxim demonstrates why the issue of ‘food safety’ is a matter of such sensitivity as far as public opinion and our electorate are concerned. I learnt at primary school that cows eat grass and are ruminants. And it is owing to pursuit of profit that we now feed our cows cattle feed fortified with animal bonemeal. We are turning our cows into cannibals. But that is not all.
Our Belgian pigs are so susceptible to stress that they are given tranquillizers and betablockers just before they are transported to the slaughterhouse. Mafia-type organisations give our cattle hormones, antibiotics, corticosteroids, betablockers, and beta-agonists. We have also known for a few days now that there are dioxin chickens. In my country, Flanders, it used to be a tradition to eat chicken and chips on a Sunday. We now know that we can dispense with the chips as well because our chickens are fed discarded frying oil. This brings us to the heart of the problem.
Ladies and gentlemen, the dioxin chicken scandal is far more than a mere setback. What happened in Belgium could just as well have taken place in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain or Italy. It is the result of a defective system, an erroneous Common Agricultural Policy that plunges farmers into a vicious circle of producing ever-increasing amounts ever more cheaply, investing ever more heavily, having ever larger scales of operation which must be farmed ever more intensively. Quantity takes precedence over quality.
We must change tack. From now on, quality must take precedence over quantity. There is a common resolution which has been put forward by several groups, of which my own group, the Greens/European Free Alliance is one. I want to stress that there is a definite need for an efficient system whereby people are warned in good time about any kind of unsafe food. A far-reaching proposal must be produced which will reinforce the precautionary principle in food production and trade at European level. Let"s be honest, there is going to have to be a debate on the recycling industry. Can it be acceptable for the waste from water purification plants, which contain cadmium and heavy metals, to be incorporated into cattle feed and thus end up in the food chain. A clear distinction must be drawn between what is waste and should be treated as such, and what can still be used in our food production.
On a final note, this crisis is a disaster for the producers. Tens if not hundreds of companies will go bankrupt. I have here the report by the Court of Auditors on the Community aid given to those farmers affected by the BSE crisis. I have today heard the Commissioner listing a whole range of measures which are to be taken or which have already been taken. I am pleased about this, but still I cannot help but feel that this is still too little. Billions have been spent on the victims of the BSE crisis and something must also be done for the victims of this crisis. Why are Flemish farmers denied what is given to English farmers? I fully concur with the view expressed by my colleague Sterckx that what the Commission has now done is just a first step, and that the Commission and the Council and this Parliament will have to go much further."@en1
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