Opposition MPs last week accused Agriculture Canada of unhealthy hypocrisy – funding research to increase nicotine levels in tobacco, even as Health Canada campaigns against smoking.
They quoted government documents outlining discussions about how to increase nicotine levels in a tobacco variety being proposed for Maritime production.
A government spokesperson insisted that nicotine levels, and tobacco production, are going down in Canadian agriculture.
The Prince Edward Island tobacco project did not happen.
“We have taken out over 50 percent of the tobacco growers in this country in the last 10 years,” Jerry Pickard, parliamentary secretary standing in for an absent agriculture minister Ralph Goodale, told the House of Commons. “As a matter of fact, 90 percent of the research dollars that have been spent in agricultural research have been taken away.”
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As Pickard spoke, Liberal rural caucus chair and Ontario MP Bob Speller sat two rows back, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Many of Canada’s tobacco farmers are in his riding and Pickard was implying the government considers the industry unsavory.
Reform MPs honed in on discussions by Agriculture Canada researchers about researching a tobacco plant with higher nicotine levels and therefore increased market acceptability.
Reformers also noted $2 million per year still is spent by the government on tobacco research in Ontario.
The Bloc QuŽbecois joined the attack and drew prime minister Jean ChrŽtien into the debate.
The BQ opposed government efforts to tighten advertising by tobacco companies, he said. “Such hypocrisy.”
And from Japan, where he was on a trade mission, agriculture minister Ralph Goodale tried to limit the damage.
Search for alternatives
Funding has been cut for tobacco research and much of the effort now is aimed at finding alternative crops for tobacco producers, he told reporters in a call-back news conference.
There also is an emphasis on finding ways to grow tobacco that is more environmentally friendly, with less erosion and fewer chemicals.
But is the federal government now spending research dollars to increase the nicotine levels in tobacco being grown in the country? he was asked.
“Certainly not to my knowledge,” he said.
Reform MPs said they were outraged by the Liberal responses.
Vancouver Island MP Keith Martin, a medical doctor, called the government defence “absolutely unbelievable.”
He said nicotine levels in cigarettes have increased 53 percent in the past two decades.
Pickard said that is an industry standard at the manufacturing level. Nicotine levels in the raw plant have been declining.
