Is Health Canada Working for Canadians or Multinational Corporations ?
Examination of the review process for the safety of BGH reveals the powerful influence of multinational corporations over government departments, particularly Health Canada. In November 1994 the CBC-TV program “The 5th Estate” reported that Monsanto Canada Inc., at a meeting with representatives from Health Canada, offered a bribe of one or two million dollars for the speedy approval of BGH without any further testing. In May 1997, The Globe and Mail reported that Health Canada was a department riddled with managers easily influenced by powerful pharmaceutical corporations. In 1994 BGH was examined by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in hearings that concluded with recommendations to place a one-year moratorium on the approval of BGH to allow for further study. The Committee agreed that there were too many unknowns to approve the use of BGH in Canada at that time. In June 1995 Monsanto threatened to pull some of their investments from Canada if the moratorium on BGH
