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TITLE: Health Department Officials Defend Screening of Genetically Altered Foods |
AUTHOR: Dennis Bueckert |
PUB: Canadian Press |
DATE: |
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OTTAWA (CP) - The federal Health Department is defending its screening of genetically modified foods after a scathing report by a panel of independent scientists. Health Minister Allan Rock told the Commons on Monday he welcomes the report even though it concludes the current federal approach is deeply flawed and vulnerable to conflicts of interest. Rock noted it was he and his cabinet colleagues who commissioned the report by a panel of the Royal Society of Canada, the country's science academy. But the panel seems to have taken the government by surprise with its warning that the current screening process could fail to protect against "serious harms to human health animal health or the environment." The 265-page report calls for a much higher standard of scientific assessment of proposed transgenic products in cases where the risks are "potentially catastrophic." Health Department spokeswoman Karen Dodds told a news briefing Monday that the 14 scientists on the panel don't understand federal policies as now applied. She said the panel must have looked at some of the wrong documents on the Health Department Web site. Some of those documents are intended for the general public, not for experts, she said. "If they'd asked for in-depth sessions we'd have given them in-depth sessions." Conrad Brunk, co-chairman of the panel, said it examined all the information publicly available, but some key principles of the regulatory process are ambiguous. He said there is an apparent conflict of interest, given the government's dual objective of promoting the biotech industry and protecting the public. "Since they operate in an environment that is quite deeply embedded in secrecy and confidential information they certainly have an appearance of being (more) aligned with the industry than they do with the public good," Brunk said. "That may be largely perceptual but nevertheless it definitely contributes to the current unease in the public about the way the technology is being regulated." Nadege Adam of the Council of Canadians criticized the suggestion that the scientific panel did not understand federal policies. "To say that is an outrage. If they're not going to consider the Royal Society a credible voice to assess their regulatory process then they won't take anybody's word for it." Brunk said pressure to get funds from industry is distorting the whole research agenda in Canada. Most government funding agencies ask researchers to get matching funds from industry, he noted. "One of the important elements of biotechnology is that just about everything you come up with in terms of research findings has proprietary value. "So there's also a question of researchers themselves having their research agenda distorted by the attractions of commercialization, which are very powerful." Canada is the third-largest producer of genetically modified crops in the world and the federal government has approved more than 40 varieties of modified corn, potatoes, tomatoes, squash and other plants. Recommendations from the scientific experts include calling in independent auditors to double-check every step of federal regulation and more openness throughout the process. The report also recommends a moratorium on the raising of genetically modified fish in pens, from which they escape to interbreed with wild fish. © The Canadian Press, 2001 END |