As six Health Canada scientists went public last week with complaints that their safety concerns about a growth hormone for dairy cows were being suppressed, lobby groups called for a public inquiry into how the government assesses drug and food safety.
“We feel the health protection branch is now working for the interest of their business clients with new products rather than the safety of Canadians,” Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club of Canada told a news conference last week.
She said the next drug expected to fit the pattern is a Monsanto-produced bovine somatrotropin, which has been under study by Health Canada for most of the past decade.
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“We believe they are on the verge of approving it, despite very strong reservations by some of their own scientists,” she said. “This will put Canadians at risk and should be investigated.”
Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians, an anti-free trade lobby, told the news conference it is a sign of the “corporatization” of government that has followed the free trade deal.
“The department’s scientists are forced to approve drugs not safe for human and animal consumption,” she said. “This is the corporatization of the government of Canada’s health protection branch.”
May produced minutes taken at a meeting of the department’s BST review committee last year during, which it was reported that when tests were being done in the United States before the BST hormone was approved there five years ago, more than 20 percent of male rats given high doses of the drug developed thyroid cysts.
Departmental scientist Shiv Chopra said these results should have prompted more studies, rather than American approval.
It was noted that Monsanto thought those results too limited to be meaningful and Canada has not pursued further study.
Last week, Chopra was one of six scientists at a Public Service Staff Relations Board hearing, complaining that their professional work and opinions were being overruled by bosses who see their job as getting corporate products onto the market and promoting Canada as a good country for corporate investment.
He told the hearing that when scientists have raised safety questions about some products, they have been ignored or chastised, in some cases told their careers could be hurt if they continue to oppose.
The scientists have been ordered by Health Canada to not talk publicly about their complaints. The PSSRB hearing was the first time they could make their case without violating the order. A ruling on their grievance is expected within the next month.
The government has said it is an issue of conflicting opinions and union-management squabbling.
The scientists said it is more than that. Several years ago, they said, a beef cattle growth hormone was approved over the objections of three scientists who had concerns about its health implications.
In Mississauga, at Monsanto’s Canadian headquarters, vice-president Ray Mowling said he has heard all these criticisms and allegations before. He and the company stand behind the scientific studies that have said the BST product is safe and effective.
“We’re confident in the science,” he said. “We think this process in Ottawa should be science-based and if it is, the product will be approved. Then, we realize we have a lot of work to do with the industry to have it introduced and accepted commercially.”
Mowling said results from the U.S. prove the product is effective in increasing milk production in dairy herds, and is accepted by consumers and farmers when it is available.
He said he has no evidence the BST product will receive approval soon: “We can only hope.”
He denied Monsanto has been exercising undue influence within Health Canada to have the product approved.
“It has been under review for more than eight years. This is undue influence?”
Health Canada has commissioned reports from a committees of physicians and veterinarians to assess human and animal health risks. Those reports are expected this autumn. However, the department has set no deadline for when a decision on BST will be made. Senate hearings on the issue are planned for later this autumn.
