Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-070"
Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
---|---|
rdf:type | |
dcterms:Date | |
dcterms:Is Part Of | |
dcterms:Language | |
lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000216.7.3-070"2
|
lpv:hasSubsequent | |
lpv:speaker | |
lpv:spokenAs | |
lpv:translated text |
"As an MEP and, more importantly, as a consumer, I welcome the European Commission’s proposal as a step in the direction of enhanced food safety within the European Union.
This proposal has two objectives: first, to amend the 1991 Council Directive on animal health conditions by removing the provisions on scrapie and, secondly, to introduce a new regulation establishing rules for preventing and combating transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) or BSE-type diseases affecting sheep and other animal species.
What is interesting abut this new legislation is that a specific legal basis is being created in order to combat scrapie. What is even more satisfactory is that this was one of our main demands in our follow-up report on the mad cow crisis.
I also consider it essential, for the sake of coherence, that existing legislation on scrapie, which is limited to the trade in ovine and caprine animals, should be incorporated in a single and complete set of new rules on TSE affecting all animals throughout the European Union, rules designed to prevent the consumption of foodstuffs or feedingstuffs.
These rules are all the more welcome in that doubts still persist as regards scrapie. A number of scientific hypotheses maintain that scrapie developed into BSE in cows and therefore caused the BSE epidemic. Even if this proposal for a European Parliament and Council regulation to prevent and combat certain TSE needs to be made more accurate and more effective, especially as regards detecting and fighting scrapie, it is still a notable improvement. It is a pledge to European citizens, who have voiced their concern, as regards European food policy, on many occasions.
The European Parliament has relayed their concerns and they have been heard. As a result of the debates on the principle of precaution, traceability, responsibility and transparency, the European Commission has presented a White Paper on food safety. This White Paper sets out several areas of concern and proposes the creation of an independent European Food Authority as part of a European strategy to restore consumer confidence. It is up to us, as responsible Europeans, to prove that the single market and the free movement of goods and food safety are not mutually exclusive."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples