SUNS  4325 Tuesday 17 November 1998

Ottawa, Nov 15 (IPS/Mark Bourrie) -- Environmentalist are supporting six government scientists who blew the whistle on politicians and chemical industry executives trying to pressure them into approving the use of cattle growth hormones in Canada.

Growth hormones such as recombinant bovine Somatotropin (rBST) have been in use in the United States for five years but cannot be used here until approved by 'Health Canada' - the Canadian Department of Health. Although banned, traces of rBST have turned up in milk and cheese here
as local farmers apparently have bought the hormone in U.S. border towns and smuggled it into Canada.

When the six scientists at Health Canada balked and went public with stories about the pressure being put on them to approve rBST, senior managers in the department created two scientific panels to look into the issue - one comprised of veterinarians, the other appointed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Opponents of the panels say that one of the "independent" scientists on the physicians and surgeons panel is Rejeanne Gougeon, a nutritionist at McGill University in Montreal. She, according to her curriculum vitae, has worked as a consultant for a U.S. agrochemical firm involved in producing rBST

Elzabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, says the six scientists, who have taken their complaints to a civil service arbitration panel, have risked their careers to expose the pressure being applied to approve new drugs.

"The crux of their complaint and their grievance is that the health of Canadians is being compromised by a culture of approvals within Health Canada," she said. "They're under pressure to approve pharmaceuticals, pressure to approve veterinary drugs, pressure to approve substances
that get into the food supplies of Canadians before adequate testing. There are some very serious allegations that have been made."

May says the six scientists came forward after a series of drugs and growth hormones were approved despite warnings from government scientists.

For example the growth hormone 'Revelor H', which is intended to improve beef production, was "approved over the objections of three Health Canada scientists who believed there was not yet adequate evidence that this growth hormone was safe to be in our food supply," she said.

"This was while Canada was before the World Trade Organization challenging the European ban of beef hormones. Political interference and pressure from the manufacturer got Revelor H approved before it should have been."
May's organization has called for a public inquiry into the way Health Canada approves drugs.

The Canadian government denies the allegations made by the scientists. Health minister allan Rock told the Canadian Parliament that his ministry has not yet approved rBST and will not do so until it is
proven to be safe.

But Maude Barlow, director of the Council of Canadians - a group that fights the growing power of transnational corporations - says that the Canadian government is giving up its power over public health.

"We believe that Health Canada, under tremendous pressure from the drug industry, is about to approve this dangerous drug," she says. "Their bosses may have ordered the scientists not to speak about it publicly, but they have been brave enough to come forward."

Quoting from a Health Canada document, Barlow said the government wants to make Canada "the preferred place of business from a regulatory point of view." It has ordered drug regulators "to advocate the strategic interests of our industrial clients... no longer the Canadian public, but the person or company who pays for the service," she says.

"Very simply, the health protection branch of the government of Canada is being dismantled and now directly serves transnational food, drug and chemical corporations. Scientists are forced to approve drugs that are not safe for animal or human consumption.

"Food inspection has been given over to a new agency whose mandate is to promote trade, not to protect health. In simple language, this is the corporatization of the government of Canada's health protection branch so that no one will be in charge of animal or human health."

The panel hearings are expected to last for several months.