HL Deb 22 January 1998 vol 584 c261WA
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many of the 10,000 scientific papers on vitamin B6 mentioned in the annex to the letter from Professor Arnold Beckett to the chairman of the Committee on Toxicity were taken into account by that committee prior to its decision to recommend restrictions on the retail sale of vitamin B6 supplements; and what plans they now have, if any, to ask that committee to consider the remaining papers. [HL141]

Baroness Jay of Paddington

The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) has considered the safety of vitamin B6 on two separate occasions and we are confident that it has reviewed all the relevant papers on toxicity of vitamin B6 as well as unpublished papers supplied by interested parties.

The Government have every confidence in the rigour with which the COT reviewed the data and we have no plans to ask the COT to consider the issue for a third time.