POLITICS VERSUS SCIENCE: APPORTIONING ... - Buffalo State

Food and Public Health Authority. Figure 3, the authors’ recommended scheme, went far
beyond the existing regulatory structure.
James, Kemper, and Pascal defended inclusion of environment and public health
in their proposed organizational structure, pointing out that some aspects of
environmental pollution is attributable to animals. (See Figure 2.) In fact, there was a
precedent within the EU for a similar combination of competencies: DGXI, created in
1981, included the environment, consumer protection and nuclear safety (Young 1997,
211). It was not until 1989 that the Consumer Policy Service was separated from DGXI.
(DGXXIV, Consumer Policy, was relatively new, having been established in March
1995.) But not only had the Commission recognized the interconnectedness of public
health, consumer safety, and the environment in its past and current organizational
structure, the authors find support for the linking of these policies in (at the time) the
most recent EU treaty (Amsterdam), which “emphasized the need to include health issues
in policy making at a European level.” The architects of the proposed authority warned
that “the health of children and adults is markedly different within societies and across
Europe (diet, smoking)” and “enlargement will amplify these differences because of the
markedly greater burden of ill health in Central and Eastern Europe.” Add to the mix
“the public’s confidence in both governmental and scientific analyses and actions has
declined because of a perceived bias toward political and industrial rather than consumer
interests,” and we have a spirited defense of a European Food and Public Health
Authority. Furthermore, they expected their proposed structure would reduce the
frustration of industry, “exasperated by the complex and protracted system for clearing
18