European Commission Committee Approves Ban on Feed Additives
Bloomberg News
December 11, 1998, 12:51 p.m. ET
European Commission Committee Approves Ban on Feed Additives
Brussels, Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A European Commission
committee voted to ban two chemicals used as additives in animal
feed in a decision that could raise farm costs just as producers
face plunging incomes.
The European Commission is expected to formally approve the
standing committee for animal nutrition's decision next week,
officially banning carbadox and olaquindox, which are both used to
boost growth in livestock.
The ban, which is part of EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz
Fischler's efforts to improve food safety, would come as commodity
prices have slid because of rising inventories and the loss of
Russian and Asian exports. In November, British farm leaders said
U.K. farm incomes fell by more than 50 percent in 1998.
Four antibiotics have already been banned from use as feed
additives, citing concern that humans could become immune to
certain medicines after eating meat from animals fed with
antibiotics.
The two feed additives could pose a risk of cancer in humans
preparing the feed and giving it to the animals, Fischler said
when he proposed the ban last week. Enough committee members in
today's vote approved the plan, signaling formal approval is
likely next week.
Spokesmen for Bayer AG, which originally patented olaquindox,
and Pfizer Corp., which originally developed carbadox, said last
week they wouldn't be badly affected by a ban, since the patents
on the products have expired and most are now produced by other
companies outside the EU.
--Anne Brockhoff in the London newsroom (44 171) 330-7100/tc |
