Food Irradiation - European Directive

EDM number 410 in 1989-90, proposed by Winston Churchill on 30/01/1990.

That this House notes that the proposal from the European Commission for a Directive that would give a general clearance for irradiation of 11 categories of foodstuffs was rejected by the European Parliament on 10th October 1989 in favour of a general ban on the use of irradiation of foodstuffs throughout the Community, with the single exception of dried herbs and spices, by a vote of 263 to 66; notes that, under Community procedures, this will again be debated in 1990 and a vote of 260 Members of the European Parliament will require unanimity in the Council of Ministers before the Commission's proposal may become a Community Directive; notes that the recent House of Lords Select Committee Report on Irradiation recommends that United Kingdom law should not be changed until there is agreement within the European Community; and therefore calls on Her Majesty's Government to give an undertaking that the current United Kingdom ban on irradiation will not be removed until there is agreement with our European Community partners.

This motion has been signed by a total of 28 MPs.