§ Baroness Whartonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in reaching conclusions on the safety of vitamin B6, the Food Advisory Committee first considered the scientific literature calling into question the validity of the study implying that prolonged supplementation with vitamin B6 posed a safety risk; and if not, why not.
Lord LucasThe Food Advisory Committee did not itself consider the scientific literature on the toxicity of vitamin B6. It relied instead on advice from the 145WA Department of Health's Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT).
In providing its advice, the COT considered 31 publications from scientific journals, one chapter from a book on vitamin B6 and three reports from other committees, including one from the EU Scientific Committee on Food. The evidence on the toxicity of vitamin B6 comes from several reports of observations in humans, as well as from the extrapolation of animal toxicity data. A list of the papers considered has been deposited in the Library of the House. Our attention has since been drawn to additional scientific data relating to the safety of vitamin B6, and arrangements are being made for these to be considered by the COT.