DRUG ACT SHAKE-UP ATTACKED

Health group fears government shirking duty to public safety

OTTAWA - Public consultations on updating the Food and Drugs Act are a
smokescreen for deregulating health protection and reducing the federal
government's responsibility to put safety first, the Canadian Health
Coalition is charging.

``We're seeing a whole dismantling of food and drug laws so that we can
`modernize,' in Health Canada's words, the health protection legislation,''
Kathleen Connors, chairperson of the coalition, said yesterday.

``So-called old values like protecting public safety are being replaced by
new values, like satisfying industrial clients - satisfying the
transnational corporations who produce food, who produce drugs, who produce
medical devices.''

The coalition, which includes seniors, labour, religious, student, teacher
and health-care organizations, has released a citizen's guide to
consultations Health Canada has launched in its plan to redesign the Health
Protection Branch.

Connors said the document will help Canadians decipher the department's
motives and actions already under way to revamp the branch.

Health Canada's first priority should not change, Connors said.

PROTECT THE PUBLIC

``The first duty of the government is to protect the public. That
abdication is absolutely unacceptable in the eyes of the Canadian Health
Coalition.''

Consultations began yesterday and continue today in Halifax, where Health
Canada officials will hear from the public, academics, health-care
professionals and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry and
agriculture, said Ian Shugart, the visiting assistant deputy minister in
charge of Health Protection Branch's transition.

``The traditional areas are the programs to assure the public of the safety
of consumer products, therapeutic products, like drugs and medical devices,
blood and the food supply,'' Shugart said from Halifax.

`'The suggestion that it's (the transition) really a cover for getting out
of the business is simply without foundation. It is simply untrue.''

The coalition wants the federal government to put a moratorium on the
redesign of the branch and call a public investigation into what it says is
Health Canada's failure to perform its duties in protecting public safety.

The group also wants Health Minister Allan Rock to restore the branch's
budget for food and drug protection, abandon its cost-recovery program and
return the responsibility for food safety to the branch, away from
Agriculture Canada where it now resides.

Public consultations continue Sept. 24-25 in Winnipeg, Sept. 29-30 in
Vancouver, Oct. 14-15 in Ottawa, Oct. 22-23 in Montreal and Oct. 28-29 in
Toronto.

People who want to express their views should contact the transition team
at its toll-free number from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., 1-888-288-2098.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski