MP asks about health warnings on crisps, chips

Labour MP Noel Farrugia asked the government yesterday whether it was considering introducing health warnings on cereals, breads, biscuits, chips and crisps similar to the notices on cigarette packets.

Speaking on the adjournment of the House of Representatives yesterday morning, Mr Farrugia observed that a team of scientists told the World Health Organisation last week that such products contained high levels of acrylamide, a carcinogenic.

Mr Farrugia tabled reports by the Sunday Telegraph and the (London) Sunday Times which showed that the compound is created naturally when foods are baked or fried.

Mr Farrugia asked what the government's position was, now that the presence of the compound had been established by the WHO and what it would do to inform the public.

The Labour MP also spoke on the Tigne' project and asked what would happen now that the Environment and Planning Authority had been told in a report by Dr Peter Loveday, Principal Transport Planner for Epson UK that a tunnel had not been built as designed and it posed a danger to drivers in that they did not have a clear view as they approached the tunnel and would not be able to see a stationary car there. The responsible minister, he said, should make his position clear.

Earlier in his speech Mr Farrugia accused the government of having thrown the rights of Malta as a sovereign nation overboard in the talks on EU membership concerning fishing. He said Maltese fishermen since 1971 had got used to considering the 25-mile zone around Malta as their exclusive zone, but they had now been betrayed by the government. A future Labour government would restore this zone for Maltese fishermen and ensure conservation of fish stocks through selective fishing.

Mr Farrugia said a survey by a British consumers' association had confirmed what the Labour opposition had long been saying - that consumer prices of food in the EU were far higher than in non-member countries. The survey, published in a UK paper last Saturday, had compared prices in Britain and New Zealand. Mr Farrugia gave the comparable prices for butter, New Zealand beef, lamb and rice.