Cyclamates (Hansard, 26 June 1968)

§ 36. Mrs. Joyce Butler
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will issue further advice to consumers of soft drinks and other foods containing cyclamate artificial sweetening, following the reports of recent researches in Austria on the subject, details of which have been sent to him.

§ Mr. Hoy
No, Sir. The Austrian research work to which my hon. Friend refers is not new. Although it has only recently been published, it was considered in 1967 by the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee before it reaffirmed its earlier recommendation as to the safety in use of cyclamates.

§ Mrs. Butler
Is my hon. Friend aware that when a report like this is published, or republished, it causes considerable alarm to consumers, particularly those who have heart, circulatory and liver complaints, who are told that they may be particularly susceptible to even small amounts of cyclamates? Will he issue a circular to manufacturers calling on them to state on the labels whether their products contain cyclamates, and, if so, how much, as guidance to people-who are worried about all this?

§ Mr. Hoy
I have already replied to the second part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question. If evidence is re-published, that does not alter it from what it was originally. As I said, what was published originally was taken into consideration before the decision was made.

§ Mr. John Hall
Would not the Minister agree that if there is any doubt whatsoever about the effect on health of an additive to foodstuffs, at least it should be published on the label, so that people who believe that their health might suffer from ingesting those additives would know what was contained in the foodstuffs and would then avoid them?

§ Mr. Hoy
As the hon. Gentleman knows, if this point had been considered, it would not have been approved by this very distinguished Committee, which went into the whole matter. Our Committee's verdict has been supported by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the other international organisations whose job it is to consider these matters. This evidence was available when that very expert Committee considered the matter in the first place.