Introduction
2. The Commission was presided over by its Chairman, Mr. G. Weill (France) and its three Vice-Chairmen, Dr. N.A. de Heer (Ghana), Mr. A.Miklovicz (Hungary) and Mr. G.R. Grange (U.S.A.). The Joint Secretaries were Mr. G.O. Kermode and Mr. H.J.McNally (FAO) and Dr. J. Munn (WHO).
4. Dr. Bernard was pleased to see the ever growing interest in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, as evidenced by the fact that 88 countries were now Members of the Commission (an increase in membership of 26 countries since the Commission last met in Geneva in March 1969) and further by the fact that 13 countries had already indicated their positions with respect to the four Recommended Codex Standards which had been sent out to governments for acceptance immediately after the Seventh Session of the Commission. Dr. Bernard stated that the letters requesting acceptance of the remaining 40 or so Recommended Codex Standards also adopted by the Commission would shortly be sent to governments by the Director-General of WHO. He outlined the contribution which WHO was making to the health aspects of the FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, referring to the steady expansion in WHO's activities in the field of food additives, pesticide residues, contaminants and food hygiene. The work of WHO was also continuing in other fields of interest to the Commission, namely food microbiology and the various aspects of food-borne diseases. WHO was also continuing to support research projects in various institutes engaged on work with pesticide residues, food additives, contaminants and food hygiene, by making available research grants.
5. The Chairman thanked the Assistant Director-General, Dr. Bernard, for having opened the meeting and expressed appreciation at the contribution which WHO was making to the Food Standards Programme, more especially to those aspects of the Programme's activities which concerned the protection of the health of the consumer. The Chairman stressed the importance of WHO's role in providing the necessary technical advice in all matters affecting the health aspects of international food standards. He also expressed the appreciation of the Commission to Dr. C. Agthe of WHO for his services to the Codex Alimentarius Commission since its inception, and expressed the best wishes of the Commission to him in his new position in the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
6. Having briefly reviewed the progress of work of the Commission, the Chairman recalled that the establishment of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, almost ten years ago, was on the initiative of a relatively small number of countries - mainly European countries - and thought that with the membership of the Commission now standing at 38 countries, more than half of which were developing countries, the Commission might in the near future wish to consider how best to take account of the special needs of the developing countries within the context of its future work programme and activities.
7. During the session, the Commission unanimously re-elected Mr. G. Weill (France) as Chairman of the Commission to serve from the end of the Eighth Session until the end of the Ninth Session. The Commission also unanimously re-elected Mr. G.R. Grange (U.S.A.), Dr. N.A. de Heer (Ghana) and Mr. A. Miklovicz (Hungary) as Vice-Chairmen of the Commission to serve from the end of the Eighth Session until the end of the Ninth Session.
8. The Commission unanimously adopted the provisional agenda with a slight rearrangement in the order of items to be discussed.
