People with allergies, and the public in general will benefit from a bill requiring labelling of local products, parliamentarians agreed yesterday.

But the Opposition United Bermuda Party questioned whether the bill was not just "window dressing", making references to other consumer protection and public health laws that are not being enforced.

Besides the requirement of proper packaging and labelling of locally produced goods, the Public Health Amendment Act 2002, also provides for the regulation of hospitals and other health care facilities and increases penalties for breaching the regulations. Government agreed to correct drafting errors before the bill was approved by the House.

Introducing the bill, Health Minister Nelson Bascome said that many local manufacturers already voluntarily labelled their products.

"However, a number of locally produced items sold on the island have minimal point of sale information or labelling. The introduction of minimal standards for local products will help to protect the public and promote a measure of consistency between local and international requirements."

Mr. Barritt pointed out that the dangers of asbestos are well known and regulations in place to protect the public, yet a promised report on the handling of asbestos has still not been produced.

"Forgive me for sounding cynical," Mr. Barritt said. "This could amount to no more than window dressing." He added: "You can sell it, I'm not buying it. You can put it on my plate but I am not eating it."

Mr. Barritt was backed by his colleague Kim Young who added that, despite the bill's good intentions, Government had not followed through on a bill requiring the accreditation of diagnostic facilities like mammography units, or a recent bill regulating child care facilities.

And she questioned whether products being sold at bake sales would be exempt.

Mrs. Young also wanted to know how the labelling law would work, saying the regulations should be also be produced.

But she agreed that the bill was well intentioned. "We want people to eat healthier and we want people to know what they are eating."

While the UBP members said they were concerned that the measure would increase the cost of doing business, Government argued that many local producers already label their products and that the Health department was ready to work with the few resisters. Government backbencher Dale Butler strongly supported the bill, saying that the Health department had held workshops with most of the local manufacturers. He said with bake sales and other situations where the manufacturer was present the buyer could always ask about the ingredients. Mr. Butler, who works for the restaurant chain Little Venice, pointed out that there had been occasions when "people have passed out on the floor because the server was not aware what the ingredients were".

And he said it might be costly and onerous to label an item the first time but the next time around it's is "not a problem".

"The Honourable Minister of Finance makes the best coconut cakes on the Island. Will he have to label it? Yes, if he sells it."