Minister attacks ban on growth hormones

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 40

Minister attacks ban on growth hormones

Wellington reporter The pending ban by the European Community on the use of growth hormones in meat production has been described by the Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Moore, as “a ridiculous and blatant barrier to fair trade.”

The prohibition was to have been introduced on January 1 but international lobbying has had it postponed for 12 months.

The delay had given New Zealand a breathing space to look at its options, Mr Moore said. The Government would

be considering its position on the use of hormonal growth promotion in New Zealand during the next few months. As part of this process his officials would be meeting meat industry representatives in February. Two factors needed to be borne in mind in the latest flurry of publicity on the use of hormones, he said. • First, the ban was being imposed for political reasons because it had no scientific justification; and • Second, the ban could cost New Zealand a beef and offals trade

worth about $25 million a year if implemented. “We do not accept in principle the imposition of such conditions on our meat trade with Europe,” Mr Moore said. That was why New Zealand was supporting a United States initiative to take up this matter as a question of “a technical barrier to trade” through the G.A.T.T. New Zealand would respond to genuine consumer requirements in the E.C., he said, but would not accept political or bureaucratic interference in trade done in the consumer’s benefit.