HC Deb 09 November 1989 vol 159 cc1147-8
4. Mr. Anthony Coombs

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the latest situation as regards the EEC proposal to ban the use of mineral hydrocarbon wax for defeathering of geese and ducks.

Mr. Gummer

The European Community has made no proposal to ban the use of mineral hydrocarbon wax for this purpose.

Mr. Coombs

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the great concern in the British poultry industry about a proposed Government regulation to ban the use of mineral hydrocarbon wax in the defeathering process, as part of a more general ban on mineral hydrocarbon oils? Is he further aware that the food science laboratory says that such waxes and oils have no effect on human health and that the previous Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food concurred with that view? Even if the ban were imposed, it would not apply to our European competitors; as a result it would hand a large part of the British poultry market to those competitors and there would be no improvement in the health of the people eating the birds.

Mr. Gummer

I am sure that my hon. Friend would want me to reassert that the primary purpose of Government legislation in this area is the safety of the public. That must come first. I am looking at the representations from the industry, and I realise its concern.

It would, of course, also be ridiculous to put ourselves into a position in which people could not buy British products but could buy continental products which had been treated in exactly the same way as those that we had prohibited in Britain. This matter must primarily be sorted out in the European Community and I am considering the best way of doing that.

Mr. Ashton

If the Minister cannot tell us about geese and ducks, can he tell us about defeathering Prime Ministers? Is there to be a stalking horse or not?

Mr. Gummer

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will come often to agriculture questions, because the industry that we are discussing and the consumers who use its products are the most important in Britain. We want to ensure that the industry is healthy and we do not like it being used for cheap political jibes.