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Brussels, 18 december 1995
The ban on hormones for animal fattening purposes should remain!
The use of hormones as growth promoting substances for cattle in the European Community has been forbidden since 1988. It should remain so in the future, since the production of meat should be as natural as possible. In addition, this is the best guarantee for healthy high quality foodstuffs and also ensures that the market meets consumer expectations.
However, it appears that certain exporters of beef to the EU have lost their sense of reality, if one considers the decreasing consumption of meat in the internal market. In fact, consumers today are more and more sensitive, and rightly so, when it is a matter of their health and the quality of products. They do not want foodstuffs in which they have no confidence to be imposed upon them.
The European Union has no reason to bow to a diktat by the manufacturers of hormones and meat producers, who use hormones as growth promoters. The question goes beyond the health of the consumers and of the animals concerned to include the economic and social problems of agriculture in the internal market. The problem of hormones cannot be defined simply as a (protectionist) trade barrier!
The so-called scientific conference, held in Brussels from 29 November to 1 December 1995, has in no way resolved even the basic problem by laconically stating that the correct use of natural and sexual hormones does not present a risk for human health. No nutrition specialists were even invited to attend this conference.
Nobody can in fact guarantee a correct administration, particularly in small enterprises. Neither is anyone in the position to monitor sufficiently whether the rules governing the use of the permitted hormones have been closely adhered to, as is continuously shown in other examples. Who will ensure that only the authorised hormones are used if illegal " cocktails " are cheaper and how can the latter be detected during controls?
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