The European Union should have a broader mandate to protect public health, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said yesterday.
He said the treaty under which public health was protected in the EU at present had a "very narrow" base and while much had been achieved, he felt much more could be achieved if changes were made to the EU constitution.
Addressing EU delegates who were meeting in Dublin to try and draw up a European framework for diabetes prevention and care, he acknowledged change was "a thorny issue" as some member-states jealously guarded how they dealt with health issues. However on broader issues of population health like cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, he believed much more could be achieved by having pan-European strategies.
The workshop heard that diabetes affects 60 million people in the EU. Among them are 300,000 Irish sufferers, one third of whom are unaware they have the condition.
Prof John Nolan, consultant endocrinologist at St James's Hospital, Dublin, called for more screening as sufferers were often unaware they had the disease until, for example, they suffered a heart attack. A blood test would confirm the diagnosis.
Some 85 per cent of patients have type 2 diabetes, which can be prevented by regular exercise and sensible diet, he said.