WRITTEN QUESTION E-0680/02 by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Radioactive contamination of game.
Date: 2002-03-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: consumer protection, environmental monitoring, game animal, health control, health risk, import (EU), radioactive pollution, surveillance concerning imports

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/191

(2002/C 205 E/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0680/02

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(12 March 2002)

Subject: Radioactive contamination of game

In January 2002 radioactivity checks were carried out in the ‘Chemisches Untersuchungsamt’ in Speyer on
samples of wild boar meat from the region of Birkenfeld and Pirmasens (Rheinland-Pfalz). Approximately
5 % of cases investigated were found to exceed the EU maximum permitted levels of radioactive
contamination (600 Bq/kg of meat), in some cases considerably. According to experts this contamination is
due to the effects of the Chernobyl reactor disaster (April 1986). The possibility cannot be ruled out that
radioactive substances, particularly caesium, continue to accumulate in the forest soil, and that there could
continue to be peaks of radioactive contamination in years to come.

1. What information does the Commission have on recent investigations (dating from 2000, 2001 or
2002) into the radioactive contamination of game in the EU?

In which regions of

2.
contamination exceeding those currently permitted?

the EU did these investigations

find game with levels of

radioactive

3. What guarantees are there that this radioactive contamination is adequately monitored in all regions
that produce game?

Does the Commission know of any recent findings (dating from 2000, 2001 and 2002) on the

4.
contamination of game imported from European third countries?

5. What guarantees are there that the current maximum permitted levels are not exceeded in game
imported from third countries for resale?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(24 April 2002)

Member States have used the meetings of the regulatory committee set up under Article 7 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 (1) to inform the Commission of radioactive caesium levels in game meat
in some EU territories
originating in the EU. The information presented in this forum shows that,
including Germany, game meat, and wild boar in particular, may have levels of radioactive caesium which
exceed the maximum authorised EU limit of 600 Becquerels per kilogramme (Bq/kg). This corroborates the
studies carried out following the Chernobyl accident which predicted radioactive caesium retention in
forests, causing relatively high levels of
some natural and semi-natural environments,
contamination in products such as mushrooms, berries and game.

such as

Levels exceeding the EU limits have been recorded in game meat from the regions within the EU that were
most seriously contaminated following the Chernobyl accident, including southern Germany. In 1998, the
Commission published its Atlas of caesium deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl accident (2).

Member States must comply with their legal obligations to take action on their own territory in
application of Articles 35 and 36 of the Euratom Treaty and also under Council Directive 96/29/Euratom
of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the
general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiation (3). The Commission takes all possible
action to ensure that the Member States do indeed meet their legal obligations in this area.

In recent years studies have been carried out on behalf of the Commission to assess the risks of importing
products whose radioactive caesium content exceeds the limits laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 737/90.
They show that a number of products, which include game, can contain relatively high levels of
radioactive caesium. The Commission has alerted the authorities in non-EU countries so that they can
efficiently inspect the products concerned before they are exported to the EU. Two non-EU countries,
Poland and Bulgaria, have been inspected by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO). These measures,

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29.8.2002

alongside the adoption of more restrictive measures on the conditions for the importation of woodland
mushrooms (4), have meant that very few cases of EU limits being exceeded have been notified in the last
two years via the Commission’s rapid alert system. One case of game meat exceeding the values (venison
originating in Poland) was notified in 2000, and no cases in 2001.

The above EU measures and, chiefly, the obligation under Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 for
Member States to inspect imports of a range of products,
including game meat, guarantee that such
products do not exceed the maximum radioactive caesium content of 600 Bq/kg.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 of 22 March 1990 on the conditions governing imports of agricultural
products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (OJ L 82,
29.3.1990), as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 616/2000 of 20 March 2000 (OJ L 75, 24.3.2000).

(2) Atlas of caesium deposition on Europe after the Chernobyl accident, 1998, ISBN 92-828-3140-X.
(3) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996.
(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1661/1999 of 27 July 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of

Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 (OJ L 197, 29.7.1999).

(2002/C 205 E/204)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0683/02

by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(12 March 2002)

Subject: EU-Algeria trade

On 19 December 2001 the EU and Algeria signed an association agreement.

This agreement provides, in particular, for a trade regime for agricultural products, relating to the EU’s
exports to Algeria of cereals, sugar and oilseeds and its imports from Algeria of vegetables, olive oil, fruit
juice and wine.

Algeria further undertakes to phase out its tariff barriers to enable the entry of industrial exports from the
EU.

Although the establishment of these relations is to be welcomed and it is to be hoped that they will
contribute to the restoration of peace and respect for human rights in Algeria, it has nonetheless to be
stressed that the resultant trade flow will, once again, create competition for the products of southern
Europe, which are already in circumstances of crisis, while redounding to the benefit of well-off farmers
and industrialists in northern Europe.

Does the Commission agree with this analysis?

If so, what compensatory measures does it intend to take in support of southern European producers?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(22 April 2002)

The association agreement between the Union and Algeria was initialled on 19 December 2001. Its
agriculture section provides for gradually increasing liberalisation of trade between the Union and Algeria
in preparation for establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area indicated in the Barcelona
Declaration signed in 1995 by the fifteen Union countries and our Mediterranean partners.

It was on that basis that
the two parties negotiated reciprocal concessions on a large number of
agricultural products. Provision for further liberalisation is made by a review clause whereby the parties
may exchange further concessions from the fifth year after the agreement enters into force.