First of all, before this regulation came into rule, we had a guideline that we used, and the community accepted the guideline. Incidentally, what has been brought into law or regulation, some people have argued, is not that different from what we have.
So what is the difference between a guideline and a regulation? A guideline is a notice to us. That's what the United States has. We are notified about a high-risk behaviour—very much like what we heard about this morning. We get the results of the serological tests, as we pointed out, for HBV, HCV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and so forth.
And you should be aware that we're not working in opposition here; we're also here to provide a safe system—and it is a safe system. So what we've done is use words like “exclusion” in a law, a word that was not used before. We've used very harsh language. I would argue, first of all, that we need to talk about high-risk behaviour. After all, when you've talked about MSM, that's a behaviour, perhaps. I would not get into defining a group, or whatever the case may be. I think we can leave people to decide. I don't think people necessarily want to be defined as groups.
The other thing you should know, in regard to the reference made to the case in Chicago—which is in the courts, and which I've been consulted about but am not allowed to give the details of—is that there was a lack of transmission of the data. That's what happened. There was a failure of the system. Nothing that we would have done would have protected.... This law will not prevent that; it was a breakdown in the system.
You asked what we wanted, Ms. Bennett. One, I think we need to amend this to reflect what we're trying to accomplish, and I would encourage you to mandate that we use the best test possible.
In regard to HCV, incidentally, which Mr. Fletcher alluded to, Canada did not embark on the high road. You didn't use the surrogate test. And I'm not talking about this government, so I apologize if you're assuming I'm a political animal; I am not. I'm an apolitical animal. I'm an advocate for patients. But the reality is that the Canadian government at the time did not take the best advice from the doctors. You should have used the surrogate tests. The United States did, and they didn't suffer the same costs.