§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list any publications of(a) the food advisory committee, (b) the veterinary products committee and (c) the advisory committee on pesticides that were produced in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RyderThere have been no publications from the food advisory committee in the last 12 months, but Ministers have made the following announcements as a result of advice received from the committee
—use of the term low alcohol' in the labelling of alcoholic drinks (MAFF Press Release 358/88—use of nutritional claims in food labelling and advertising (MAFF Press Release 253/88)—a proposal to ban the use of Mineral Hydrocarbons in Food (MAFF Press Release 53/89)—a proposal to ban the sale of certain pills intended as slimming aids (MAFF Press Release 388/88).In addition, the committee's comments on the report of the working party on pesticide residues 1985–88, published on 13 March 1988 in the food surveillance series, were appended to that report.
During this same period, the 1987 annual report of the veterinary products committee was published within the 1987 report of the Medicines Commission. In addition, the advisory committee on pesticides' annual report for 1986 and its report on aerial applications of pesticides in 1987 were published.
Ministers also announced the results of seven evaluations of new pesticides by the committee (press release 333/88) changes to, or revocation of, the approvals of four pesticides (press releases 312/88, 433/88, 450/88 and 204/88) and issued a paper reporting the results of 303W routine reviews of other, currently permitted pesticides (press release 117/89). Five other pesticide approvals have been included in the Department's pesticide register.
All the publications and press releases have been deposited in the Library of the House.