Threat to vitamin & mineral tablets used by Haringey people 17/07/05

On 12th July, the European Court of Justice upheld the European Food Supplements Directive despite a legal challenge. Under the Directive -- which was issued more for reasons of European harmonisation than safety -- products like 1gm vitamin C risk being banned.

Chairman of Tottenham Conservatives Justin Hinchcliffe voiced his concern that the new ruling from unelected European officials will harm local health food shops and end the rights of local residents to take their vitamin and food supplements of choice.  "People across Haringey have been using vitamins safely for years," he said.  "We expected a bit more support from the Liberal Democrats but they are possibly constrained by their love affair with the EU.  Meanwhile Conservatives will continue the campaign."

Tottenham Conservatives Deputy Chairman Lydia Rivlin, said: "Everyone uses supplements some time or another. I myself have allergies which severely restrict what I can eat and I take a lot of vitamins to make up.  It is totally unneccessary, bureaucratic legislation which could ban 5,000 products from local stores.  Blair has let us all down by allowing this to be forced on us but he doesn't seem to worry too much about the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.   In any case, Cherie probably buys all the vitamins she wants on her trips to New York."