MEDICINES (FEEDING STUFF ADDITIVES) ORDER 1975 (Hansard, 28 July 1975)

§ Lord STRABOLGI
My Lords, I beg to move that the draft Medicines (Feeding Stuff Additives) Order 1975, laid before the House on 4th July, be approved. The Order is intended to correct several anomalies in the Medicines Act 1968, to enable us to exercise full control over the sale, supply, import and labelling of medicated animal feeding-stuffs and over the sampling and analysis of these feedingstuffs for enforcement purposes. The Medicines Act contains provisions relating to the general control of medicated animal feedingstuffs—that is animal feedingstuffs in which medicinal additives have been incorporated.
805 The medicinal additive may be a medicinal product as defined in Section 130 of the Act or it may be a substance which, although not a medicinal product as defined, nevertheless has been incorporated in the feedingstuff for a medicinal purpose. This latter expression is also defined in Section 130. It might help to make this difference clear if I take copper as an example. Its derivative copper salt is frequently added to pig feed as a growth promoter. The copper salt is not itself a medicinal product, but under the Act such an addition is for a medicinal purpose.
The Agriculture Ministers propose shortly to make regulations which will deal with the manner in which samples of feedingstuffs are taken and analysed for enforcement purposes. In addition, an order will be made prescribing limits of variation. The enforcement regulations to which I have just referred will apply to all medicated feeds, whether the medicament is a medicinal product or a substance incorporated for a medicinal purpose. But the Act empowers Ministers to make orders prescribing tolerances only in respect of feedingstuffs containing medicinal products, and makes no provision for tolerances for feedingstuffs containing substances, such as copper, incorporated for a medicinal purpose.
Turning to a different matter, the provisions of Sections 40 and 42 of the Act relate to general control over medicated feedingstuffs. Under these sections, licencing controls are imposed on the incorporation of medicinal products in feedingstuffs, and on the sale and import of feedingstuffs so medicated. The incorporation of substances such as copper into feeds is also controlled under these provisions, but not the sale and import of feedingstuffs containing substances incorporated for a medicinal purpose. The Order now before your Lordships' House will remedy this deficiency.
There is one further provision in the Order. In 1973 your Lordships' House approved a similar order (The Medicines (Feeding Stuffs Additives) Order 1973 No. 1164) which extended the requirements for the labelling of medicated feedingstuffs so that they apply to feeding-stuffs containing substances incorporated for a medicinal purpose as well as to those containing medicinal products. The Order now before your Lordships' House 806 revokes and re-enacts the earlier one. To summarise, therefore, the Order covers all the provisions in the Act which the agriculture Ministers wish at this time to apply to the substances I have described.
As the Act requires, a number of organisations representing interests likely to be substantially affected have been fully consulted, not only on this Order but on the proposed enforcement regulations and limits of variation order, and have raised no objection. The Veterinary Products Committee, established under Section 4 of the Act to advise Ministers on veterinary medicines, recommends that the Order be made. I beg to move.

§ Lord SANDYS
My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Strabolgi, for introducing the Order and for explaining it in such detail, particularly in view of the fact that he quoted so striking an example as that of copper salt. We on this side of the House strongly support the Order.
I have two questions which I should like to ask. First, the powers in Section 117 of the parent Act—the Medicines Act, 1968—empower the agriculture Ministers to make regulations. The noble Lord referred to the fact that regulations are to be drafted and my question is as follows: are the agriculture Ministers in Brussels to be consulted when we are drafting our own regulations, and, broadly, are regulations in this field coordinated in the EEC as a matter of practice?
Secondly, can we be assured that at the present moment standards in use in the Common Market are on a parallel basis? I have said that we on this side of the House support the Order. It is clearly beneficial, particularly in view of the fact that I understand that more than 23 organisations have been consulted and have raised no objection

§ Lord STRABOLGI
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sandys, for the welcome he has given to the Order. The noble Lord raised the question of the EEC standard. I understand that the Community standard permits the use of 125 parts to a million of 807 feed, while the United Kingdom standard permits the use of up to 200 parts. There is therefore, some difference. We have filed a case at Brussels for increasing the EEC standard, and this will be discussed in the autumn.
With regard to the regulations, Section 117 of the Medicines Act is concerned with enforcement and is not therefore the concern of Brussels. I am glad that the noble Lord referred to the number of organisations which have been consulted. As he said, these number some two dozen. There is also the Veterinary Products Committee, which is a committee of veterinary, medical and other scientific experts whose terms of reference are to give advice with respect to safety, quality and efficacy in relation to veterinary use of any substance to which the Medicines Act applies, and to promote the collection and investigation of information relating to adverse reactions to veterinary medicines. The distinguished chairman is Professor Grunsell of the Bristol Veterinary School. I hope this clears up the points about which the noble Lord was asking.