Fw: Bravo ... Canadian Press ... Public to be consulted on new health protection law

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http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id=2C49AC97-3C6F-4320-8224-7489E49C20C6

EXCERPT: It has been held responsible for the marketing of unsafe breast implants and for failing to prevent the tainted blood crisis.

Public to be consulted on new health protection laws: McLellan JOHN COTTER Canadian Press

Monday, June 09, 2003

EDMONTON (CP) - Concerns about SARS, mad cow disease and West Nile virus should prompt Canadians to speak out on proposed changes to outdated health protection laws, Health Minister Anne McLellan said Monday.

McLellan announced new public consultations will begin this fall for a new Canada Health Protection Act. The legislation will replace four existing laws, including the Quarantine Act, which hasn't been changed in a meaningful way in more than 100 years, McLellan said.

"I'm hoping that because of the kind of public health challenges we have seen, Canadians will be particularly engaged at this point and participating in the consultations," she said.

"It is fair to say that challenges like SARS, BSE and West Nile tell us that we need to be constantly reviewing our public health protection legislation."

The other laws up for review include the Food and Drugs Act, the Hazardous Products Act and the Radiation Emitting Devices Act.

The new legislation would establish product safety requirements, improve legislative authority for reviewing new drugs and genetically modified foods and regulate new technologies such as gene therapies.

It would also give the federal government more authority to take action to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

Details of the new proposals were to be posted on Health Canada's Web site at http://renewal.hc-sc.gc.ca

Merrifield, the Canadian Alliance's health critic, welcomed the review but wasn't convinced the four acts need to be rolled into one.

Merrifield said existing rules and regulations were not necessarily to blame in the SARS crisis. Ottawa could have responded better instead.

"It is smoke and mirrors. We have a SARS situation where the Quarantine Act wasn't invoked. Because of that, we had serious problems with SARS exporting to another country that gave Toronto and Canada a black eye," Merrifield said in Ottawa.

"It was not that the act was weak. The implementation was weak."

The new consultations follow a first round of public hearings in 1998. During those hearings, groups such as the Canadian Health Coalition warned new legislation would lead to deregulation and privatization in food and drug safety.

McBane, spokesman for the public health watchdog, said the coalition's concerns haven't changed. Proposed changes to the food and drugs act will put the public at risk, he suggested.

Under the existing law, products must be demonstrated to be safe before they are marketed, he said.

"They want to get rid of that and move toward a risk management system that would shift the burden of truth onto consumers to demonstrate that a product is hazardous," McBane said in Ottawa. "We are extremely worried."

The country's health protection agency, responsible for the safety of Canadian food, drugs and medical devices, has been at the centre of a number of controversies in recent years.

It has been held responsible for the marketing of unsafe breast implants and for failing to prevent the tainted blood crisis.

McLellan said she doesn't expect replacing what Health Canada calls outdated statutes with more modern rules and regulations will go quickly or smoothly.

"No one should be under any illusions. This is going to be very controversial," she said.

"There are different interests, different stakeholders. But it is imperative that we move forward to ensure that we have modern comprehensive health protection legislation."

Leonard Kuchar, a senior policy adviser for Health Canada, said the public hearings will start in September and lead to the writing of a draft bill some time next year.

Sharon Sholzberg-Grey of the Canadian Healthcare Association said the act is so comprehensive and important it can't be rushed.

She also warned the federal government must be vigilant during the transition between the old and new rules.

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