FSA Targeted as Next Victim of Coalition Government’s Austerity Measures
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is reportedly the next target of the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley, who has released a white paper pledging to cut the National Health Service (NHS) and abolish quasi-governmental organizations “that do not need to exist.” Although a structural plan published alongside the paper recommends reforms to the food safety watchdog, media reports have cited unidentified sources as suggesting that Lansley plans to eliminate FSA and reallocate its duties to the Department of Health (DH) and the Department for Food, Rural Affairs and the Environment (Defra). DH, however, has countered these claims, maintaining that under the proposed reorganization, FSA would relinquish its oversight of nutrition policy but continue to serve “a robust regulatory function.” See The Guardian, July 12, 2010; DH Press Statement, July 15, 2010.
The rumor has drawn swift criticism from consumer and health groups such as the National Obesity Forum, which lambasted the Conservative Party for “being the political wing of business.” In addition, former European Food Safety Authority Chair Patrick Wall told FoodProductionDaily.com that complete abolition of FSA “would be a retrograde step.” He noted that the non-ministerial agency was created in 1999 to alleviate conflicts of interest arising from Defra’s mandate to both promote agriculture and police it. “The FSA has one of the best scientific advisory structures in the world and to dismantle this and go back to a politically set agenda may be a huge mistake and both the agrifood sector and consumers could be losers,” he was quoted as saying. See FoodProductionDaily.com, July 13, 2010.
Meanwhile, Lansley has already announced termination of the $120 million Change4Life anti-obesity marketing campaign. He has purportedly asked the commercial sector to pick up the tab for these health education efforts in exchange for a non-regulatory approach. “No government campaign or program can force people to make healthy choices,” Lansley reportedly said in a July 7 speech at the UK Faculty of Public Health Conference. “We want to free business from the burden of regulation, but we don’t want, in doing that, to sacrifice public health outcomes.” See The Guardian, July 7, 2010; Advertising Age, July 8, 2010.
