EXPERT WORKED FOR DRUG FIRM

Nutritionist now examining safety of BST hormone

OTTAWA - A member of an independent, expert committee Health Canada set up
to reassure Canadians about the safety of a controversial growth hormone
for cows consulted for the company that makes the drug, The Star has learned.

Jeanne Gougeon, a nutritionist at McGill University, consulted for Monsanto
Canada from 1993 until May of this year, according to her curriculum vitae,
obtained from the university.

Gougeon was one of the experts selected this spring to participate in a
``completely objective and arm's-length'' panel studying the health effects
on humans who drink milk from cows treated with the veterinary drug bovine
somatotropin, or BST.

As well as being a consultant paid by Monsanto, she also published a paper
in 1994 recommending Health Canada approve the drug.

The paper, in the Journal of The Canadian Dietetic Association, concluded
the milk from treated cows ``is as nutritionally complete as milk from
unsupplemented animals.''

The paper was supported with a grant from the Canadian Animal Health
Institute Biotechnology Information Committee - a lobby group Monsanto
helps finance.

Monsanto has been trying for nine years to get BST approved for sale in
Canada. It has been used in the United States since 1994.

The Council of Canadians and the Sierra Club of Canada both condemned
Gougeon's presence on the panel.

``She's clearly in a conflict of interest,'' said Jo Dufay of the Council
of Canadians. ``The College of Physicians and Surgeons should move promptly
to ensure that no one on that panel has a conflict of interest.''

The council also called on Health Minister Allan Rock to investigate.

Although managers in Health Canada have concluded that milk from treated
cows is safe, some scientists within the department still have concerns
about the longterm effects of growth hormones on people.

Six Health Canada drug reviewers have launched a grievance against their
managers to air their concerns publicly. They contend they have been
pressured to approve unsafe drugs, including BST.

The department, which has ordered the scientists not to speak to the media,
commissioned several of its scientists to write an internal report earlier
this year analyzing the government's scientific review of the drug. Dr.
Shiv Chopra and others who wrote the report, known as the Gaps Analysis,
cited some specific concerns about safety data Monsanto had provided Health
Canada. The report also criticized managers for overlooking data the
authors considered worrisome.

Managers ordered Chopra and the other scientists to delete several critical
portions of the report and redraft it.

When word of the earlier version leaked out, the government referred any
outstanding safety questions to two panels to review the science
surrounding the drug and put public concerns to rest.

One study is being conducted by the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons, the other by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. The
veterinary association is already on record as supporting the safety of BST
for humans.

Gougeon is one of the six members of the physicians' panel, all of whom had
to fill out conflict-of-interest forms before beginning the study.

According to the panel's mandate, part of its job is to review the adequacy
of data available to Health Canada and ensure that ``public confidence in
the safety of the milk supply be assured at all times.''

``This was to provide another input on its safety that's completely
objective and arm's-length,'' Gougeon said from Montreal.

Gougeon confirmed she has in the past worked as a consultant for Monsanto,
and belongs to the Food Biotechnology Communications Network, an
association partly financed by the company.

``The Royal College knows that,'' she said.

But Dr. Stuart MacLeod, who chairs the college's panel, was unaware of the
relationship until last week, when a member of the public told him about
it, he said. He would not venture an opinion on whether Gougeon was in a
conflict situation.

``I honestly don't know enough about the nature of Dr. Gougeon's
consultations,'' MacLeod said from St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton.

``She's there because of her expertise in nutrition.''

Health Canada did not consider her Monsanto connections a conflict of
interest, Gougeon said.

``Personally I didn't see any . . . I didn't feel it would interfere with
how I feel about the whole situation,''she said.

Health Canada did not return calls Friday.

Gougeon never promoted BST, although she said Monsanto had in the past paid
her to give talks to consumers about biotechnology ``in a friendly context.''

Checked-by: Pat Dolan