2188Th Council Meeting

C/99/185

Luxembourg, 8 June 1999

8876/99 (Presse 185)

2188th Council meeting

- HEALTH -

Luxembourg, 8 June 1999

President: Ms. Andrea FISCHER

Federal Minister for Health of Germany

CONTENTS

PARTICIPANTS

ITEMS DEBATED

limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields 0 hz-300 Ghz

future community action in the field of public health

antibiotic resistance - a strategy against the microbial threat - council resolution

integration of health protection requirements in community policies - council conclusions

Communicable Diseases

-eu-us task force on communicable diseases

-Information on developments in Europe

state of health in the community (migrants)

transmissible spongiform encephalopatHies (tses)

any other business

"who tobacco free initiative"

foodstuff contaminated by dioxin

INFORMAL MEETING WITH THE HEALTH MINISTERS OF CEEC AND CYPRUS

For further information call 285.60.83 or 285.63.19

PARTICIPANTS

The Governments of the Member States and the European Commission were represented as follows:

Belgium:
Mr. Luc VAN DEN BOSSCHE / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior
Denmark:
Mr. Ib VALSBORG / State Secretary, Ministry of Health
Germany:
Ms. Andrea FISCHER / Federal Minister for Health
Greece:
Mr. Lambros PAPADIMAS / Minister for Health and Social Welfare
Spain:
Mr. José Manuel ROMAY BECCARIA / Minister for Health and Consumer Affairs
France:
Mr. Bernard KOUCHNER / State Secretary to the Minister for Employment and Solidarity, with responsibility for Health
Ireland:
Mr. James BRENNAN / Deputy Permanent Representative
Italy:
Ms. Rosy BINDI / Minister for Health
Luxembourg:
Mr. Marc UNGEHEUER / Deputy Permanent Representative
Netherlands:
Mr. Jan DE JONG / Deputy Permanent Representative
Austria:
Ms. Eleonora HOSTASCH / Federal Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs
Portugal:
Ms. Maria de Belem ROSEIRA / Minister for Health
Finland:
Ms. Eva BIAUDET / Minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Sweden:
Mr. Lars ENGQVIST / Minister for Social Affairs
United-Kingdom:
Ms. Tessa JOWELL / Minister of State, Department of Health
Commission:
Mr. Padraig FLYNN / Member

Participants of the Applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus :

Bulgaria
Mr Petar BOYADJIEV / Minister for Health
Czech Republic
Mr Ivan DAVID / Minister for Health
Estonia
Mr Eiki NESTOR / Minister for Health
Hungary
Mr Árpád GÓGL / Minister for Health
Latvia
Mr Viktors JAKSONS / Minister for Health
Lithuania
Mr Vytautas KRIAUZA / Deputy-Minister for Health
Poland
Mr Jacek PIATKIEWICZ / Undersecretary of State
Romania
Mr Alexandru CIOCALTEU / Secretary of State
Slovak Republic
Mr Michal ONDREJCÁK / Secretary of State
Slovenia
Ms Dunja PISKUR KOSMAC / Secretary of State
Cyprus
Mr Christos SOLOMIS / Minister for Health

limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields 0 hz-300 Ghz

The Council reached political agreement by qualified majority, the Italian delegation indicating its intention to vote against, on a recommendation on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields 0 Hz-300 GHz.

The Recommendation will be adopted at a forthcoming Council session, once the text has been finalised in the official Community languages.

The aim of this draft recommendation is to provide for a commonly agreed framework concerning a high level of protection against acute effects from 0 Hz-300 GHz electromagnetic fields.

It is based on a set of basic restrictions and reference levels as developed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in the Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-Varying Electric, Magnetic and Electromagnetic Fields published in April 1998.

With respect to electromagnetic fields, concerns have been raised about possible health effects, primarily cancer, of exposure to artificially produced fields. There is no convincing scientific evidence of EMFs causing cancer. There are, however, health effects that are well established, and these have been the object of various national regulations and international guidelines aimed at avoiding or limiting exposure to EMFs. Among sources of EMFs are :

-sources of static electric and magnetic fields,

-power lines and electric appliances,

-electric railway systems,

-broadcast transmitters,

-cellular radio,

-mobile phone base stations,

-radar.

future community action in the field of public health

The Council held an exchange of views on future Community action in the field of public health.

The Ministers gave their views on the priorities to be given within the new health framework programme, as well as indicative views on the necessary financial framework to be allocated to public health measures at Community level.

It emerged from the discussion that a large number of delegations, while supporting the three strands of action

-improving information for the development of public health by developing a structured and comprehensive Community system for collecting, analysing and disseminating information;

-reacting rapidly to threats to health, by the creation of a Community surveillance, early warning, and rapid reaction capability;

-tackling health determinants through health promotion and disease prevention, both through broad health promotion activities and by specific disease prevention actions, underpinned by intersectoral action and the use of instruments offered by the Treaty, not only in the health field but also in other sectors.

identified the need for a better structuring of the health programmes, for instance, by integrating all programmes under a single umbrella programme. It was also considered necessary that the future health programme would adopt a more horizontal approach covering health aspects in other fields of Community policies, such as internal market, environment and social affairs.

At the end of the debate the Council adopted the following resolution:

"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1.RECALLING the Commission's communication of 15 April 1998 on the development of public health policy in the European Community which was intended to stimulate a broad discussion at Community and national levels;

2.RECALLING its Conclusions of 26 November 1998 on the future framework for Community action in the field of public health[1] in which general principles were established;

3.TAKING NOTE of the Resolution on 10 March 1999 of the European Parliament on the communication from the Commission on the development of health policy in the European Community;

4.TAKING NOTE of the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee of 9September1998 and of the Committee of the Regions of 19 November 1998 on the communication from the Commission on the development of public health policy in the European Community;

5.TAKING NOTE of the results of the Conference on the new public health policy of the European Union held at Potsdam on 27 to 29 January 1999 as a positive contribution to the debate on the development of the future Community action in the field of public health;

6.STRESSES that the future Community action directed towards improving public health, preventing human illness and diseases and obviating sources of danger to human health must address in a coordinated and coherent way the concerns of the Community's citizens about risks to their health and their expectations for a high level of health;

7.CONSIDERS it necessary that all health-related activities in the Community have a high degree of visibility and transparency, in order to promote a better knowledge and thus enable a larger involvement of citizens;

8.EMPHASISES that a high level of human health protection is increasingly important in view of the health challenges the Member States and the European Union will face in the forthcoming millennium;

9.CONSIDERS that key challenges include emerging and re-emerging threats to health; major health scourges; genetic, behavioural and environmental determinants of health; growing health inequalities; quality assurance; demographic changes and the impact of ageing; social, economic and political factors; the advances in research and the application and proliferation of new technologies, in particular biotechnology;

10.UNDERLINES that the Community should be properly equipped to meet these challenges; this requires both developing, specifically within the three strands as indicated in the Council's Conclusions of 26 November 1998, appropriate action and measures of added Community value, as well as appropriate scientific and administrative structures;

11.STRESSES the importance that the new programme will encourage and, if necessary, support the cooperation between Member States on appropriate issues on the key challenges and in other fields where they wish to cooperate insofar as the public health objectives of the Treaty allow;

12.CONSIDERS that over the long term, the effectiveness of Community public health action will depend to a very large degree on the availability of adequate Community resources to meet priorities and the engagement of relevant authorities in the Member States on a continuing basis;

13.UNDERLINES that existing Community networks should be evaluated as to whether they are suitable to meet the key challenges;

14.REITERATES that the development of measures in all three strands as indicated in the Council's Conclusions of 26 November 1998, should take into account the needs arising from the future enlargement of the European Union and the work of international organisations competent in the sphere of health;

15.UNDERLINES that, in order to strengthen the scientific basis, research must have an essential role in underpinning the Community's future public health action. Public health-related research at Community level, in order to be relevant for Community public health, has to respond to the specific research needs and issues identified by the public health sector whose access to research programmes should be facilitated;

16.UNDERLINES the need to establish procedures through which the Community and the Member States can monitor the impact of Community policies and activities, especially those relating to the internal market, on public health and health care, in order to facilitate an adequate balance between the impact of the internal market and the unchanged responsibilities of Member States for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care;

17.CONSIDERS IT APPROPRIATE that, following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999, internal organisation, cooperation and working methods at Community level should be reviewed with a view to achieving a better coordination of health-related issues so as to ensure a high level of human health protection in the definition and implementation of all Community policies and activities;

18.INVITES the Commission, as a matter of urgency and in order to ensure continuity in the light of the expiration of existing programmes, to make a proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and the Council on a programme of action in the field of public health, in time for the next Council meeting devoted to health questions."

antibiotic resistance - a strategy against the microbial threat - council resolution

"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1.CONSIDERING that antibiotic resistance is a major European and global health problem;

2.RECALLING that a high level of human health protection is to be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Community policies and activities;

3.CONSIDERING that an effective reduction and prevention of micro-organisms becoming resistant to antibiotics used in human and veterinary medicine and in animal feeding stuffs and preservation of the effectiveness of antibiotics for the treatment of infection cannot be achieved by national initiatives alone, but require a common strategy and coordinated action at Community and international level;

4.RECALLING that the growing awareness of this problem has triggered various initiatives and actions in different areas at national, Community and international levels;

5.RECALLING the World Health Organisation (WHO) Conference held in Berlin in October1997 and the report on the medical impact of the use of antimicrobials in food animals resulting from that Conference as well as the WHO Conference held in Verona in December 1997;

6.RECALLING the Resolution of the European Parliament of 15 May 1998 on the use of antibiotics in animal feed[2];

7.RECALLING the EU Conference on the Microbial Threat held in Copenhagen on910September 1998 and the Recommendations resulting from this conference which identified possible initiatives and actions that could be taken at Community level;

8.WELCOMING the own-initiative opinion of the Economic and Social Committee of9September 1998[3] on the resistance to antibiotics as a threat to public health;

9.RECALLING the Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 of 17 December 1998 amending, as regards withdrawal of authorisation of certain antibiotics, Directive 70/524/EEC concerning additives in feedingstuffs[4];

10.RECALLING that the Council invited the Commission on the occasion of the adoption of the abovementioned Regulation to submit a report before 30 June 1999 on all the public health, economic and legal implications of the antibiotic resistance issue with regard to the external dimension;

11.RECALLING the Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24September 1998 setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community[5] which constitutes a framework for the surveillance of communicable diseases;

12.RECALLING that under Directive 95/69/EC[6] establishments manufacturing antibiotics used as additives in feeding stuffs are required to hold a register to ensure the traceability of the quantities of antibiotics used, specifying among other things the nature and the quantity of the additive;

13.TAKING NOTE of the opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee of28 May 1999;

14.WELCOMING the projects initiated at European level and supported by the Commission in this area and the actions by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) in the area of control of the use of antibiotics;

15.STRESSES that antibiotic resistance increases morbidity and mortality due to communicable diseases;

16.UNDERLINES that this leads not only to a diminution of quality of life but also to additional health and medical care cost;

17.EMPHASISES that antibiotics are indispensable to combat infectious diseases and that it is therefore imperative to preserve the effectiveness of those medicinal products which are still effective;

18.CONSIDERS that antibiotic resistance and its various causes need a multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial approach;

19.CONSIDERS it necessary in view of the global dimension of this problem that the Member States and the Commission in close cooperation with the Member States promote actively the aims of this Resolution in international organisations, in particular in the WHO, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Office of Epizootics (OIE);

20.REITERATES its commitment to defining an overall strategy to guard against the development of antibiotic resistance;

21.CONSIDERS that this overall strategy should be based on risk assessment using known scientific findings, keeping in mind a precautionary approach, and comprise coordinated control and preventive action and research in particular in the following areas:

–control and preventive action relating to

=surveillance of antibiotic resistance in humans, animals and foodstuffs and its effects

=monitoring and control of usage of antibiotics (in human and veterinary medicine, animal feedingstuffs, horticulture and other agricultural productions, and foodstuffs)

=infection control in health care (hospital and non-hospital care)

=infection control in animal production

=development of new therapeutic and preventive pharmaceuticals

=promotion of prudent use of antibiotics and education in pharmacotherapy

–research relating to

=effects of preventive measures

=development of new antibiotics and alternatives

=best use of antibiotics

=determinants which enlarge the risk of emergence of antibiotic resistance.

=mechanisms of the spread and development of antibiotic resistance

=best farming practice so to improve animal health.

22.CALLS UPON THE MEMBER STATES

–to establish multi-disciplinary and cross-sectorial policies in order to facilitate the containment of the spread of antibiotic resistance;

–to cooperate in order to enable an effective comparable monitoring of the supply and use of antibiotics and an effective comparable surveillance of antibiotic resistance;

–to maintain the principle of antibiotics authorised as human and veterinary medicine being "prescription-only-medicines" and to ensure vigilance on the implementation of this principle;

–to promote adherence to the principles of infection control both in hospitals and non-hospital care as well as in animal production;

–to promote optimal prescribing and use of antibiotics (through professional education, guidelines, etc.) and to prevent their unnecessary and inappropriate use in human and veterinary medicine;

–to promote actions aimed at raising the awareness of health professionals, farmers and the general public of the problem of antibiotic resistance;

–to promote health orientated animal production systems, thus reducing the need for antibiotics;

–to promote research in this area;

–to cooperate closely with the Commission, in particular in the afore-mentioned areas;

23.INVITES THE COMMISSION

–to include as a priority the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in human medicine and in the field of zoonosis control and to promote through the Community network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases complementarity of this surveillance;

–to ensure, on the basis of comparable data provided by Member States, the reporting, including conclusions, on the supply and use of antibiotics in particular in human and veterinary medicine as well as in animal feeding, horticulture and other agricultural productions and foodstuffs ;

–to support the exchange of experience and information concerning the rational usage of antibiotics by appropriate Community activities;

–to promote research work in the implementation of the Fifth Research Framework Programme with regard to

=the evolution of antibiotic resistance within bacterial populations and the understanding of the transmissibility of resistant bacteria in humans, animal populations and the environment,

=possible transmission of antibiotic resistance potentially linked to the use of antibiotic resistance markers in the production of transgenic foodstuffs or feedingstuffs,

=the development of new rapid diagnostic and susceptibility testing systems for focused treatment,

=effective alternatives to antibiotics to prevent and control communicable diseases;

–to consider the opportunity of preparing a proposal for a Recommendation in accordance with the Treaty;

–to examine the necessity of reviewing current Community legislation in the areas of human and veterinary medicine, including medicated feedingstuffs, animal feedingstuffs, horticulture and other agricultural productions and foodstuffs, including the Community authorisation system of medicinal products with a view to reaching the objectives of this Resolution;

–to pay particular attention to the problem of antibiotic resistance in specific health actions related to applicant countries, in particular in the framework of the PHARE 2000 programme;

–to cooperate in this area, in close coordination with the Member States, with the relevant international organisations."