HEALTH DEPARTMENT ACCUSED OF SHREDDING DOCUMENTS

Complaint intensifies controversy over hormone

Ottawa -- The federal Information Commissioner is investigating whether
senior Health Department officials have shredded documents related to the
approval process for a controversial drug that increases milk production in
cows.

David Dodge, the deputy health minister, sent out a message to department
employees yesterday informing staff that an investigation is under way. He
ordered that "effective immediately, no records held by anyone at Health
Canada concerning the drug rbST (bovine growth hormone) may be destroyed or
disposed of. . . ."

The office of the Information Commissioner investigated after receiving a
complaint from Barbara Robson, researcher for Progressive Conservative
Senator Mira Spivak.

In her written complaint, Ms. Robson said several employees within the
health protection branch contacted her to report an unusual level of paper
shredding. Her informants said it began the day after scientists from the
bureau of veterinary drugs told the Senate agriculture committee they were
pressed by superiors to approve bovine growth hormone despite their concerns
it may not be safe for cows and humans who drink milk.

In her letter, Ms. Robson said she has been told that in the three working
days after the testimony of the scientists last Thursday there was an
unusually high level of shredding.

In her letter, Ms. Robson says that while there may be an innocent
explanation for the "unusually high level of shredding," immediate
intervention by the office of the Information Commissioner should be taken
to make sure that records relevant to a matter of public interest do not
disappear from departmental files.

The documents, her complaint says, "were turned into a fine powder, not
strips of paper, and the powder residue was unusually large."

Department employees were not available for comment yesterday. Department
spokesperson Franca Gatto said department employees are not permitted to
talk about investigations and can only confirm whether one is under way.

Ms. Robson launched the complaint because she made the initial request under
the Access to Information Act that yielded some documents that the Senate
agriculture committee had been looking for in its investigation into the
safety of the bovine growth hormone, which is manufactured by Monsanto. But
she has complained to the commissioner that other documents were wrongfully
withheld, and urged him to "exercise his investigatory powers to ensure that
information remains in government files."

The bovine growth hormone has been approved in the United States, but has
been under review in Canada for eight years.

Environmentalists fear it is about to be permitted here, but Health Minister
Allan Rock has insisted it will not be approved until his department is sure
it is safe.

The hormone is controversial partly because consumers may not be able to
find out if the milk they are buying was produced by cows that had been
injected with it.

In 1993, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the hormone
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 that 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 critics say human consumers could then develop
immunity to the antibiotics, making them ineffective. Some scientists also
say there is evidence to suggest that the milk may contain another hormone
that might stimulate the growth of cancerous tumours.

Canada's Health Department does not have a clean record on
document-shredding. In recent years, senior officials at the department
destroyed documents that might have been a key to understanding the
tainted-blood tragedy of the 1980s.

Checked-by: Don Beck