Again, Chair, I'll refer to the audit we did in 2004 on the regulation of medical devices. I caution, again, that this is dated information.
At that time, we noted that there were several weaknesses in the analysis and the interpretation of data. While the manufacturers and importers were required to report adverse events, Health Canada had done very little work to increase the number and the quality of reports that were received from health care professionals, who are, of course, the first ones to see this. We compared in that report the rates of reporting among Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. In 2002—I'll just provide the information—the rate of reporting of adverse events per million of population was 510 in the U.S., 148 in the U.K., and 33 in Canada, which obviously would lead one to believe that the reporting of adverse events is not complete and is not adequate in this country.