How is Health Canada keeping up with the pace of change?
The federal government recognizes that it must ensure that it will have the necessary scientific and regulatory capacity to adequately regulate products of biotechnology as the science continues to advance and new products are proposed for commercialization. Health Canada keeps pace by using the best technology available and by continually reviewing the effectiveness of its approach. The approach that is used to assess the safety of biotechnology-derived foods in Canada reflects more than a decade of work by international experts working through such fora as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In addition, the recommendations from reports released by the Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel and by the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (CBAC) are helping us to make sure we keep pace with scientific developments. In 1999, at the
