WRITTEN QUESTION E-1350/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Alarming levels of the carcinogen acrylamide in foods consumed in large quantities.
Date: 2002-05-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, cancer, carcinogenic substance, foodstuff, fresh fruit, fresh vegetable, health policy, health risk, medical research

17.4.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 92 E/47

(2003/C 92 E/049)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1350/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(13 May 2002)

Subject: Alarming levels of the carcinogen acrylamide in foods consumed in large quantities

Is the Commission aware of

1.
the minor wave of panic which spread through Sweden upon
publication of a research report indicating that numerous cakes and fried foods made from starch or sugar
contained a substance which can cause cancer: the water treatment substance acrylamide? Is it aware that
shares in the US companies Kelloggs and Quaker Oats Co and the Finnish company CHIPS ABP
immediately fell substantially, while the food safety administration’s website became overloaded?

2. What information does the Commission have concerning the study performed at the University of
Stockholm which concluded that people who eat large quantities of crisps, chips, cornflakes and certain
types of bread run an increased risk of contracting cancer, quoting an estimate of hundreds of people per
annum in Sweden alone?

Is fighting cancer a strictly national matter in Europe, or is it also partly a matter for the Food Safety

3.
Agency, which is to be temporarily based in Brussels?

4.
To what extent is fighting cancer a priority of the European Union? Can the Commission compare
the amounts spent on anti-cancer campaigns with those spent on promoting the European Union itself?
Might such a comparison be damaging to the EU’s image if it proves to be the case that less is spent on
cancer research?

5.
In addition, how much do the individual Member States, separately from EU, spend on cancer
research, and how much money do the EU and the Member States spend on promoting the eating of fresh
vegetables, which is generally believed to reduce the risk of cancer?

6. Will the Commission promote larger-scale tests? How much funding might such research receive
from the EU and Member States?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(5 July 2002)

The Honourable Member is referred to the answer given by the Commission to Written Question E-1404/
02 from Mr Dehousse (1).

As regards the specific issues related to cancer, it needs to be highlighted that the claims made regarding
an increased cancer toll from acrylamide in food are based upon estimates. However, no long-term study
has been performed by the Swedish researchers. As there is no scientific publication on this subject it is
presently difficult to judge the accuracy of the published information in relation to an increased cancer risk
in the population.

Fighting cancer is not strictly a national matter. The Commission embarked in 1987 on a series of action
plans to prevent cancer, the Europe against Cancer programme. The Commission has also supported
European cancer
framework research and development
programmes for at least the same period of time. Within its field of responsibility, the European Food
Safety Authority will also address issues relevant to fighting cancer.

research through a series of multiannual

C 92 E/48

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

17.4.2003

Fighting cancer is a high priority of the Commission. Although the Europe against Cancer programme will
finish at the end of 2002, it will be succeeded by a public health action plan, which will address issues
relevant to cancer prevention. Between 1996 and 2002, the Europe against Cancer programme has
committed EUR 90,6 million to a multitude of activities, such as the European Week against Cancer.
Furthermore, the new framework research programme also provides for European research on cancer. It is
not possible to produce a comparison between total spending on cancer-related activities and other
information programmes concerning the Union. The same applies to total spending by all Member States
on cancer research and comparisons of fresh fruit and vegetable promotion.

Up to now, only certain types of fruit (citrus fruits, apples and nuts) have been the subject of Community-
cofinanced programmes to promote them on the internal market. The new Community rules have now
extended cofinancing to ‘fruit and vegetables’ programmes. The Commission is currently examining the
proposals for programmes on this subject submitted by the Member States, who had until 15 May 2002 to
do so. The indicative budget allocations each year for Community cofinancing (50 %) are EUR 6 million for
fresh fruit and vegetables and EUR 6 million for processed fruit and vegetables.

The Commission is currently exploring how the large-scale European investigation of cancer and nutrition
cohort study (EPIC), which has been cofinanced by the Europe against Cancer programme for more then
ten years, could be exploited to answer the question of the relative cancer risk from acrylamide in food.
EPIC is coordinated by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC). The study covers approximately 500 000 European participants from nine Member States and
Norway. Twenty-four different research centres are following the nutritional habits of the participants
preceding the later occurrence of cancer.

(1) OJ C 277 E, 14.11.2002, p. 201.

(2003/C 92 E/050)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1357/02

by Gerhard Schmid (PSE) to the Commission

(14 May 2002)

Subject: Banking secrecy in the Member States

Banking secrecy has an important role to play in combating both the financing of terrorism and money
laundering.

Can the Commission therefore state:

1.

2.

In which Member States is banking secrecy laid down by law?

In which Member States does it exist on the basis of the bank’s general terms of business and of its
employees’ employment contracts?

3.

In which Member States does it not exist?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(14 June 2002)

Banking secrecy or customer confidentiality, protected via the criminal code, specific legislation or civil
law, exists in some form in every Member State.

The anti-money laundering Directive, Council Directive 91/308/EEC of 10 June 1991 on prevention of the
use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering (1), as amended by Directive 2001/97/EC
of the Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2001 (2), requires that banking secrecy be suspended
when there is a suspicion of money laundering and that a suspicious transaction report must be made to