91996E2718

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2718/96 by Annemarie Kuhn (PSE) to the Commission (16 October 1996)

Subject: The bovine growth hormone rBST

In the EU the use and sale of rBST is prohibited until 31 December 1999. The use of rBST is permitted in a number of non-EU countries.

1. Is the Commission aware of instances of milk and dairy products being imported into the EU from countries where rBST is permitted?

2. If so, from which countries are milk and dairy products imported?

3. What quantities of milk and dairy products are to the Commission's knowledge being imported into the EU from countries where rBST is permitted, and in which Member States are they marketed?

Under the terms of decision 90/218/EEC ((OJ L 116, 8.5.1990, p. 27. )), Member States are permitted to carry out limited field tests with rBST.

4. To what extent are field tests carried out in the Member States with recombinant growth hormones? Is the marketing of food suffs rules out after each test prohibited? If not, what foodstuffs are permitted to be marketed following these tests?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (11 November 1996)

1. Council Decision 94/936/EC ((OJ L 366, 31.12.1994. )) concerning the placing on the market and administration of Bovine Somatotrophin (BST) does not prohibit the import of milk products from non-member countries where the administration of rBST to cattle is authorized.

2. Since non-member countries are not required to officially declare whether they authorize the use of BST in cattle, the Commission does not have information indicating all the countries which do so. To its knowledge, the following non-member countries authorize the use of BST: the United States of America, Mexico, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Algeria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, India and Pakistan.

3. All Member States import milk products from some of the abovementioned countries. In 1995, the Community imported 5 283 tonnes of milk products from the United States, 5 636 tonnes from the Czech Republic, 2 264 tonnes from Slovakia and 1 810 tonnes from Bulgaria. Imports from the other non-member countries listed in paragraph 2 are non-existent or insignificant.

4. To date, no Member State has decided to carry out the limited practical tests on the use of BST provided for in Article 2 of Council Decision 24/936/EC.