MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2002

OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The National Farmers Union and the Council of Canadians are strongly condemning the cycle of intimidation and harassment towards Health Canada scientists who are being pressured and persecuted within their department for raising awareness on practices that jeopardise the health of all Canadians.

The four scientists - Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon, Gérard Lambert and Cris Basudde - have been ignored, demoted, threatened, suspended by Health Canada officials for voicing their concerns that veterinary drugs are being routinely approved despite without the data required under the Food and Drugs Act and regulations related to growth hormones. The antibiotic Tylosin is a case in point, having been banned in Europe for causing antimicrobial resistance.

"This is called risk management," said Dr. Shiv Chopra on Country Canada. "In other words, to make a profit, let us take risks and we will wait 20 or 30 years. If cancers occur, if reproductive disorders occur, if too many people die of antimicrobial resistance, then we will think about it and manage it."

"By rejecting the sound advice of its scientists or by replacing them with more compliant scientists who will recommend approval of a drug without any data, Health Canada administrators are playing dice with the health of Canadians, said Nadège Adam, biotechnology campaigner for the Council of Canadians.

"We were hoping these shenanigans were a thing of the past after the bovine growth hormone episode showed Health Canada the errors of its ways. Evidently, they haven't learned a thing. How can we trust them when times and times again, they are showing a contempt for the safety of Canadians they are mandated to protect."

The story is reminiscent of the fight against recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), led by NGOs, including the National Farmers Union and the Council of Canadians to prevent the approval of this hormone due to a variety of human safety issues. Health Canada wanted to approve rBGH despite the opposition of their scientists. The hormone was not approved in the late 90's.

The Prime Minister's Office has been contacted to look in this new and very serious matter, but has failed to respond to requests for a meeting. In the opinion of the Council of Canadians and the National Farmers Union, Canadian citizens have a right to know that they are being used as guinea pigs in an experiment that will only benefit large pharmaceutical corporations who are pressuring Health Canada to approve its products with haste.

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