HC Deb 19 February 1998 vol 306 cc1168-9
4. Mr. Peter Atkinson

What representations he has received about the future of green top milk; and if he will make a statement.[28748]

Mr. Rooker

We have received about 800 responses from a wide range of interested parties. I expect to be receiving more before the close of consultation on 24 February.

Mr. Atkinson

I hope that the Minister will take careful account of all the responses, including those from some of my constituents who have been drinking green-top milk all their lives with no ill effects, and who believe that the decision to drink traditional farm milk should be left to the individual.

If the Minister does ban green-top milk, is he aware that he will face the same angry reaction as the Government did over their ludicrous decision over beef on the bone?

Mr. Rooker

As some of my hon. Friends have said, just up the road from the hon. Gentleman's constituency there are citizens who are not allowed to purchase green-top milk. We are consulting on the issue and this is not the appropriate day on which to make an announcement. We will not make a decision until after the consultation process. We are operating on the precautionary principle. The hon. Gentleman may say that hon. Members have admitted that they were brought up on green-top milk, but some of the bugs that have been discovered in raw milk, such as E. coli 0157 and Campylobacter, were not known about 20 years ago.

Dr. George Turner

Does my hon. Friend share the concern that I felt on reading the documentary evidence that more than half the samples tested had faecal contamination? If less parliamentary language was used to describe the source of the contamination, the public would share my horror that, as some seem to imply, we need to have dead bodies before we act.

Mr. Rooker

My hon. Friend puts it in the same graphic terms that were put to the Government—that we should act only after dead bodies are available. That is not what we normally do, although every hon. Member who has ever campaigned for, say, a zebra crossing to be placed at an accident black spot will have been annoyed at the unwritten message that, until there are five dead bodies and a cartload of limbs, they cannot have a zebra crossing.