rBST News Cover-up alleged at Health Canada

Anne McIlroy / The Globe and Mail 17sep98

Were pushed to approve drug, scientists say

The federal Health Department has concealed evidence about the dangers of a genetically engineered hormone that boosts milk production in cows, environmentalists and scientists charged yesterday. The Health Canada scientists told an internal labour board they were being pushed to approve the bovine-growth-hormone despite their concerns that it wasn't safe.

The six scientists said they had been ordered by their superiors not to speak publicly on the issue.

The controversial hormone, manufactured by Monsanto, was approved in the United States in 1993, but is still prohibited in Europe and Canada.

In another development yesterday, the Sierra Club of Canada released government documents it says suggest far more research is needed before Canadian farmers are allowed to inject their cows with the hormone.

The documents show that the U.S. study that led to the approval of the hormone in that country actually found that 30 per cent of the rats given the drug reacted with increased levels of antibodies, and some had lesions and cysts in their thyroid glands, says Sierra Club executive director Elizabeth May.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has stated that there had been no negative effects in a study of the hormone in rats, Ms. May told reporters yesterday.

"What it shows is that you need an awful lot more studies to be able to say that, on the basis of a feeding study for rats, there is no problems for humans. . . . Yet we are now on the brink of approving bovine-growth-hormone." The documents released yesterday were obtained under an Access to Information request by Barbara Robson, a researcher for Progressive Conservative Senator Mira Spivak. The Senate's agriculture committee is investigating the safety of the bovine-growth-hormone for humans and animals, and had asked Health Canada to provide the scientific evidence it is considering.

But Ms. Robson said yesterday the department provided the committee with a version of the scientific record that blocked out the potentially troubling results. It was only her personal request that netted the information the politicians had been seeking, she said.

"What I think is appalling is the Senate was denied this information," Ms. Robson said in an interview.

It is not the first time the Health Protection Branch has been criticized for secrecy or for putting the interests of drug companies before those of Canadians. The branch played a key role in the tainted-blood tragedy of the 1980s.

The bovine-growth-hormone is controversial, in part, because it is a genetically engineered drug, produced by inserting a bovine gene into the genetic code of a common strain of bacteria. In 1993, the U.S. FDA announced that the drug had been thoroughly evaluated and was safe, and that no special labels would be required on milk produced by cows that had been injected with it.

The technology has been criticized by public-interest groups and some scientists who warn it could increase udder infections in cows and lead to the increased use of antibiotics, which could end up in the milk produced by these animals.

The six Health Canada scientists have been told they will be disciplined if they speak to the media, said Blair Stannard, vice-president of their union. They are Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon, Chris Basudde, Rajinder Sharma, Gerard Lambert and Arrost Villim.

"There is politician and financial pressure to approve the drug despite the concerns of the scientists involved," Mr. Stannard said.

But Robert Joubert, Health Canada's director general of human resources, said yesterday the complaints have led the department to set up two expert panels -- one of doctors and one of veterinarians -- to examine the evidence. They are expected to report by the end of October, said Joel Weiner, a senior Health Protection Branch official.

"It is hard for me to understand why anybody can say we concealed evidence if in fact: A) We have a review that is still ongoing, and B) We have turned to both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association to ask them to use their expertise to assess whether or not we've looked at all the science."

Yesterday, Ray Mowling, the vice-president of Monsanto Canada, said the company "stands behind our science," but didn't want to discuss the results of the study done on rats. He wouldn't speculate about when the drug might be approved.