Jill Evans MEP has welcomed as 'an important step forward for the Welsh cockle industry' today's vote in the European parliament calling for a standard safety test for cockles in Europe. This is as a result of an amendment put forward by Jill Evans in the Environment Committee which has now been adopted by the full parliament. The proposal will now be considered by government ministers before coming back to parliament.

Welsh cockle farmers - notably at Burry Port and on Deeside - have been unable to work for the last two years since the discovery of unidentified toxins led to the forced closure of the industry, even though no cases of illness have been reported. The credibility of the testing method used in the UK has been seriously questioned and campaigners have been calling for a standard EU wide safety test for cockles to ensure a level playing field. At present - with with large numbers of Welsh cockle farmers unable to work - frozen cockles from other parts of the EU can be imported to Wales without having been subject to the kind of tests which led to the closure in Wales.

Speaking during the debate on this issue in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Jill Evans MEP said:

"This is excellent news and a much needed boost for Welsh cockle farmers who've faced tremendous hardship over the last two years. A dubious testing regime has put large numbers of people out of work - I hope that as a result of the concessions that we've achieved the Welsh cockle industry will be up and running again soon.

"The harvesting of cockles is a longstanding and much valued industry in coastal areas of Wales such as the Burry Inlet and the Welsh Dee. About three thousand people are employed directly, mainly small businesses and self employed people, generating a market value of over twenty million pounds. For two years the major fisheries in these areas have been closed causing significant hardship and even bankruptcy.

"The cause of the closure was the discovery of unidentified toxins during testing, even though not a single case of illness has been reported. The main issue here is that there is no standard toxicity test for cockle safety in the EU. This has meant that during the period of cockle bed closure in Wales, frozen cockles from other EU countries which have not been subject to the same tests, could be and have been imported into Wales.

"Our first priority is, of course, the health of the public. But there must be a level playing field when it comes to testing for the sake of cockle farmers such as those in Wales who suffered terrible hardship over the last two years."

Ends.