Column 1271 the other way round. My Lords, referring to the previous question from my noble friend Lord Stoddart, I will write to him on the matter of qualified majority voting. The ministerial team in MAFF are united on this subject. We take a liberal position. I believe that my honourable friend in another place was referring to the difficult grey area between foods and medicines, especially when dealing with herbs and vitamins.
Herbs have medicinal qualities but are often exempt.
Therefore they often seem to be either foods appearing as medicines or medicines appearing as foods. I totally defend my honourable friend's comment. But it does not represent any change in our liberal approach to this issue. Its purpose was to reverse the defeat that the industry had received in the United States. My Lords, we take decisions based on our own judgment and on the basis of independent scientific advice, and we shall continue to do so.