§ Baroness Whartonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How the Minister for Food Safety was able to determine which representations from scientists should be copied to the Secretariat of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT), and whether they will now make available to COT copies of all 10,200 representations received since July 1997. [HL611]
§ Lord DonoughueMost of the representations received on the Government's proposed controls on Vitamin B6 in dietary supplements, many of which are in the form of standard letters, do not comment in detail on the scientific basis of the advice provided by the COT. The Chairman and members of the COT are already familiar with the criticisms of their review that are made in such representations. In these circumstances, there would be no benefit in copying all of the representations to the COT. Those representations which appear to present new information on the safety of Vitamin B6 and are supported by detailed scientific arguments have been copied to the COT secretariat as a matter of course.