The Green Party has claimed that the EU Directive on Food Supplements is likely to significantly restrict consumer choice by setting maximum permitted levels on vitamins and minerals that are available to the public without a prescription by the end of this year. According to Green Party Senator, Déirdre de Búrca, who raised the issue as part of an Adjournment Debate in the Seanad, this will mean that only low-grade minerals and vitamins will be on open sale to consumers in health food shops and pharmacies. “The setting of maximum permitted levels of vitamins and minerals by the European Commission is based on the false premise that higher levels of nutritional supplements pose a greater potential risk than lower levels” says De Búrca. “This is despite the fact that higher levels of vitamins and minerals have been on open sale in Ireland for the past 40 years and there hasn’t been a single case of any reported adverse impact during that time”. Senator De Búrca says that there is a growing need for consumers to be able to access higher level food supplements. She claims the nutritional value of food is diminishing because of the poor mineral content of soils and that people are also consuming more highly processed convenience food. “There is a particular need for groups such as the elderly, the sick, smokers and children with appetite problems to have access to higher level nutritional supplements”. De Búrca has called on the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to seek a derogation for Ireland from the maximum permitted levels for food supplements that will be agreed by the EU Commission over the coming months. “There is a real concern among alternative health practitioners that purpose of harmonising food supplement levels available on open sale across the EU is to facilitate the workings of the internal market at the expense of the consumer. Both Ireland and the UK have a long tradition of easy availability of high level food supplements to the public. The Green Party will use its influence within Government to try to ensure that Ireland secures an opt-out on the setting of maximum permitted levels for our food supplements”. For further information please contact Senator Déirdre de Búrca on (086) 806 1450

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Press Release by Deirdre