Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps I have a certain ability to come across as being particularly motherly but, being very often out and about among people, I am able to confirm that there is genuine anxiety and fear among our electorate, that is to say the people we represent. People are in actual fact afraid. They have, for example, been afraid of what is contained in food, of mad cow disease, of additives and of pesticide residues. Parliament, the Commission and the Council have in actual fact tackled the issue as a whole, and we are now perhaps putting the last pieces of the puzzle in place when it comes to thinking about food safety. We now have sound, comprehensive legislation. There is also a fear of chemicals of all types. I wish to commend the Commissioner for her work on forming a comprehensive view – which may perhaps constitute a model for the rest of the world – of the use of chemicals in Europe. It is these matters that have begun to be tackled. Air pollution and climate change have also been addressed. Right now, the European tabloids and popular press all too often discuss the fear of radiation – most recently from mobile phones and attendant transmitter masts. There is so much that is unknown and to be afraid of. I have inherited this report and did not write it myself. I rather think that it is a little too far-reaching and perhaps not sufficiently structured. It is important to take an overall view, so that everything is not divided up into small pieces. It is crucial that we obtain some sort of overall picture of the anxiety and of the problems, of what we can, and cannot, prove and of what we need to know more about. Subsequently, we can determine how best to draw up a strategic battle plan for coping successfully with the problems that undoubtedly exist. I have tried to include an aspect that is rather controversial, namely the fact that individuals have to have access to enough information to be able, as far as possible, to make choices concerning lifestyle, food, exercise and detergents – in fact, everything to which we are giving thought and attention – and to take responsibility for their own, and their families’, health. The health problems are now such that it is not only political decisions that apply. Instead, people must have the greatest possible knowledge. In order to be able to make active, informed choices, people must have access to information that is clear and comprehensible and that conveys a message that is relatively simple to understand. I have removed any suggestion that allergies are definitely bound up with traffic problems. I believe that this is an inference without proper scientific backing. Someone with respiratory problems or allergies is obviously hit very hard by poor air quality or air pollution. Since there is lung disease in my family, I can point out that, for example, the use of perfume constitutes at least as serious a problem for someone with an allergy. The cause of the spread of childhood allergies in modern times is perhaps also to be sought elsewhere than purely in external environmental factors. There may perhaps be biological factors involved. Mr President, that was my last speech here in the European Parliament.

Political group: ELDR