Milk Marketing Board (Hansard, 16 March 1989)

§ 1. Mr. Morgan
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the Milk Marketing Board; and what matters were discussed.

§ The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. John MacGregor
I have regular contacts with the chairman of the Milk Marketing Board to discuss various issues affecting the dairy industry.

§ Mr. Morgan
When the Minister last met the chairman, did he discuss the matter raised this week by Malcolm Stewart, one of the members of the board who said that treating cows with bovine somatotrophin was a disaster in marketing terms? Does the Minister agree that the British consumer has the right to know whether the milk that he or she buys comes from cows which have been treated with that artificial hormone? Does he further agree that the consumer has a right to expect that any milk which comes from BST-treated cows will be labelled to make that fact plain?

§ Mr. MacGregor
We did not discuss that issue at our last meeting. As the hon. Gentleman knows, ministerial responsibilities on test certificates—the stage that we are at—are guided by the Medicines Act 1968. Under that legislation, we receive advice from the veterinary products committee, which gives clearance on safety and all the other criteria laid down by the Act before a product can go ahead for field tests.
Separate labelling has proved to be pretty well impracticable in terms of field tests. There are no licence applications for full product approval before Ministers at present, but obviously many factors would be taken into account in considering them.

§ Mr. Hunter
In his dealings with the Milk Marketing Board and other parties interested in the dairy sector, has my right hon. Friend encountered the same general confidence and buoyancy as is found among the majority of milk farmers in Hampshire?

§ Mr. MacGregor
There is a good deal of confidence in the dairy sector at present. There is no doubt that dairy incomes have been rising and that that sector of agriculture is in good heart.

§ Dr. David Clark
Does the Minister deny that at its meetings in June and July 1988 the veterinary products committee considered and rejected an application by Monsanto for a product licence for BST on grounds of safety and that that fact is confirmed in its minutes of September 1988? Will the Minister now call a halt to the experiment with BST?

§ Mr. MacGregor
When the veterinary products committee considers a product licence, it has to consider many factors. It may have to engage in prolonged discussions with a company before it makes any recommendations and before anything comes before Ministers. Moreover, the same product also has to be scrutinised at European Community level. I repeat that nothing has yet come before Ministers in terms of applications for product licences. There would be a lengthy process of scrutiny before any recommendation was made to Ministers as to whether a product should be approved.

§ Mr. Marlow
As a libertarian who would obviously set his face like flint against a nanny state, will my right hon. Friend confirm that he will not prevent free-born Englishmen from drinking unpasteurised milk if they wish to do so?

§ Mr. MacGregor
I acknowledge that there are some difficult issues. I am very much on the side of wishing to give absolute freedom of choice wherever possible. We came to the conclusion that we should propose a ban for unpasteurised milk but not for products made from unpasteurised milk on two grounds. We did so, first, on advice from the chief medical officer and on medical advice generally that there was no way of making the product safe for consumers except through pasteurisation and, secondly, on the experience in Scotland, where the product is already banned. There has been a big reduction in the number of food poisoning cases there compared with England and Wales. It was not an easy decision and it is one where there must be a balance of considerations.