The Sleeper Awakes; BGH is Back!
BGH is back _ and with it the same threats to Canadians' health.
BY RICHARD LLOY.D AND HELEN FORSEY
Remember recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), also known as rBST? Remember the Council of Canadians Safe Milk Campaign a few years back? The issues didn=t go away; they=ve just been resting for a while.
But now the giant is stirring. Monsanto, the mammoth drug and chemical company that manufactures rBGH, expected Canadian approval to be a push_over, especially after they bullied and bought American acceptance in 1993. But for over 10 years the Council of Canadians, the National Farmers Union and others have helped keep this harmful, unnecessary drug out of Canada.
Remember the House of Commons Agriculture Committee hearings and the one year federal moratorium? Remember the Fifth Estate program that revealed bribe offers and the theft of files at Health Canada? Remember the 100,000 postcards we sent to the then Health Minister Diane Marleau? The petitions we signed? The phone calls we made'?
We said we wanted to continue to trust Canadian dairy products. We wanted our federal government to ban rBGH. But the government claimed NAFTA and World Trade Organization rules wouldn't allow an outright ban. (That hasn't stopped Europe, Australia and New Zealand from banning hormone drugs.) In true Canadian fashion, our government asked for more study. And there the issue has languished for the past three years.
Safe Milk or Corporate Profits?
Now Monsanto and its drug lobby, the Canadian Animal Health Institute (sic), say that they have waited long enough. They say that in 1996, when Health Canada introduced Acost recovery" and industry started paying some of the costs, our government promised to approve drug applications within six months. Ten years waiting for rBGH has them apoplectic!
Senior Health Canada bureaucrats are trying to help the companies. They are telling their staff that their Aprimary recipient and client" is the pharmaceutical industry, not the Canadian public. But the scientists evaluating rBGH have refused to approve the drug. They say their job is to protect the safety of Canadians.
For over a year, there have been media reports of threats, harassment and pressure on these balking scientists to approve drugs they consider unsafe, including rBGH. The scientists have asked for a judicial review, and have bravely filed grievances against their bosses before the Public Service Staff Relations Board.
Monitoring these events, former Agriculture Minister and long_time rBGH opponent Senator Eugene Whelan piloted a motion through the Senate in May, urging the government to defer licensing rBGH until scientific studies on the long_term risks to public health are completed. In supporting the motion, Senator Wilbert Keon, the world_renowned heart surgeon, called it "a reminder to Health Canada regulators to follow the principle of the Hippocratic Oath: 'Do no harm.' " The Senate also directed its Agriculture Committee to hold hearings on rBGH.
Some months before, top bureaucrats at Health Canada's Bureau of Veterinary Drugs had ordered a report on whether the rBGH review was complete. The resulting "Gaps Report," written by four department scientists, is rumoured to recommend against rBGH approval, questioning the data used to assess human health risks, and naming the officials who refused to demand long_term toxicology studies.
Filling in the Gaps
Media and senators have filed Access to Information requests for the Gaps Report, and the Senate Agriculture Committee has threatened to subpoena it for its hearings. Health Canada has refused to release the original, and the scientists resolutely refuse to alter it. Eventually, a heavily censored version will probably be made public.
To get around its
Ainternal" problems, Health Canada has set up two "external" reviews of rBGH. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons will assess human safety, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association -- who already hold an official prorBGH position -- will look at animal health. They are expected to give rBGH the green light, but if the true story is exposed, Monsanto may still have a problem.So the debate on rBGH, vitally important in itself, has escalated. The drug industry is lobbying for the virtual dismantling of the scientific review process at Health Canada in favour of "external" reviews, or better yet, automatic acceptance of any drug approved by another designated country. Ultimately, it's a question of who controls the regulation of food and drugs in Canada. Will it be Canadians themselves, through independent scientific review and democratic decision making, or will it be large corporations?
It's time to take on the giant, again.
Richard Lloyd from the National Farmers Union has been researching and organizing around the rBGH issue for many years. Helen Forsey is a writer and activist.
Information from Ont. Coalition for Social Justice.