Consumer organisations

Recent trends have seen more open acknowledgement of the need to balance scientific and social factors. For example, in the UK the Food Advisory Committee that advises the Food Standards Agency on food safety issues is comprised of a wide range of expertise including toxicologists, chemists, food technologists, economists, and representatives of consumer organisations and the food industry. The Committee is thus able to provide a balanced view that takes all interests into account. 

The elaboration of Codex standards follows a stepwise procedure to ensure that all relevant parties, including governments, professional and consumer organisations and other Codex Committees that may have an interest in the content of a standard have several opportunities to express their opinion. The procedures are described in section 12.3. 

The Codex Alimentarius statutes and rules of procedure provide specific information about what form the Codex decisions can take (such as Standards, Guidelines and Codes of Practice etc.), and on how decisions are made. The elaboration of Codex standards follows a stepwise procedure to ensure that all relevant parties, including governments, professional and consumer organisations and other Codex Committees that may have an interest in the content of a standard have several opportunities to express their opinion (Fig. 12.1). Typically, the need for a draft standard for a contaminant in foods will be recognised by the CCFAC as a result of a discussion in the Committee. Such a discussion will often be based on a Position Paper produced by one or more Member States that can provide particular experience or expertise on the problem. The CCFAC Chairman and the Codex Secretariat will ensure that this Member State or states, sometimes supported by a drafting group, will provide a draft standard as basis for the further, more formal work. The draft standard will be sent for comments to the parties concerned and subsequently discussed first time in the CCFAC on step 3. 

PVC cling film formulations comply with permitted migration limits (in fact well below) set at levels which are considered totally safe by various health and government organisations. However, some consumer organisations still raise concerns (391). 

Bureau Europeen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) European Consumers Organisation... 

Effective communication and consultation with public health, industry and consumer organisations... 

Many diverse players are involved in the environmental debate in society as shown in Figure 1.7 governmental institutions, consumer organisations, lobbyists, pressure groups, industry, universities and financial institutions, to name several. Their goals can, of course, differ significantly. 

For the development and adjustment of these requirements and standards, these bodies depend on so-called Technical Committees, mainly consisting of civil servants and of so-called regulatory affairs officers, representing the medical device industry. The medical profession and consumer organisations are also entitled to representation in these committees, but in practice they hardly participate due to insufficient expertise and funding. 

In the US, standardisation and certification procedures are generated and enforced by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the assistance of special FDA panels in which medical experts and consumer organisations are well represented (Fielder, 1993). Successful completion of all five stages occurs under the supervision of a special FDA-certified agency. 

Research by consumer organisations in Europe (and USA) and the results of the market surveillance authorities have shown that a substantial number of products are not safe, notwithstanding the New Approach and the efforts of industry to convince the consumers that industry acts in a responsible way. Currently recalls of products are relatively commonplace. This is partly due to inadequacies in the standards, but in most cases it is caused by failures in the operation of the manufacturing process (Gundlach, 1999). 

Some criticism has already been expressed of the frequent exaggerations to be found on the dangers of using permitted additives in the media and from some of the Consumer organisations where judgement is based on emotion and not on facts or reason. 

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