Day 038 - 19 Oct 94 - Page 21
1 secret. Typically some small fraction of the available
2 data was published, but by no means all of it.
3
4 There was a modification in policy and the arrangement
5 became that some fraction of new data after -- I am not
6 absolutely certain of the date, whether it was 1987 or 1988
7 -- but new data submitted for new evaluations after that
8 date that was not otherwise published was to be deposited
9 in the British library in Weatherby. That scheme started
10 in the late 80s. There is partial access to that data. It
11 is not freedom of information.
12
13 One of the first reports of the Committee on Toxicity,
14 supposedly covered by these new arrangements of access to
15 information, was a report on food colours. In particular,
16 I tried to obtain a document on the artificial colouring
17 amaranth E123, subject to some discussion here.
18 I submitted a form requesting a document from the British
19 library. I was told that that was not sufficient. I had
20 to submit seven forms. I submitted the seven forms. They
21 came back and they said: "No, you have to submit 35 forms
22 and pay £75". I then went back to the Ministry of
23 Agriculture, Fisheries & Foods and they intervened.
24 Eventually the requirements were reduced to one form, but
25 it still cost over £70 to obtain that data.
26
27 So, I think it is not quite freedom of information. But
28 I think I should explain that, while the British Government
29 now have made these partial arrangements for public access
30 to some of the toxicological data, similar arrangements do
31 not apply for the Scientific Committee for Food. They
32 continue to accept and evaluate unpublished data, and they
33 will not make any of it publicly accessible. The position
34 at world level, WHO, FAO, Joint Expert Committee, remains
35 the same, namely, they review large amounts of unpublished
36 data and it remains publicly inaccessible.
37
38 One of the few countries in the world where we can get
39 access to toxicological data is the USA under the
40 provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. I make
41 extensive use of the US Freedom of Information Act. Much
42 of the evidence that I have obtained upon which I base my
43 evaluation of these compounds is data which I have obtained
44 from the files of the Food and Drug Administration that the
45 British Government have refused to give us.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are you going on from secrecy to something
48 else?
49
50 MS. STEEL: There was one point I wanted to clarify on that.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is just that I had not looked at the
53 clock; we will break off for our five minutes now.
54
55 (Short Adjournment)
56
57 MS. STEEL: I just wanted to clarify something on the secrecy,
58 because you mentioned that the regulations changed in 1987
59 or 1988, but the compounds that you were looking at which
60 were covered by European legislation, you said that 45 of
