From the variety of evidence that we have heard this morning, one gets the impression...You know that pharmaceutical companies must give reasonable information about follow-up both on the trials process and on post-market safety. But healthcare professionals are the ones who have to provide the most information to Health Canada, and they do it voluntarily.
Why is the pharmaceutical industry not proactive? How is it that healthcare professionals have to do it? I will not list all the products that have been re-examined from an ethical standpoint and, at very least, whose negative effects and dangers should be made known. In some cases, even deaths have occurred.
BIOTECanada also comes to mind, and GARDASIL, the human papilloma virus vaccine. It is administered very widely in Canada now, even though we know that there have been five deaths in Europe. You are aware of this, of course. You said you are very proactive in providing information and making sure that products do no harm.
What does a company like BIOTECanada do? I asked Health Canada what its responsibility is and I was told that responsibility lies with the Public Health Agency. The vaccine comes from a company like your own. Now we are told that the Public Health Agency is responsible for it. I was not talking to the right person. I was under the impression that it was Health Canada, because that is the department that you have to report to. Things seem to be at an impasse.
I would like you to answer my questions.