Thank you, Madam Chairperson, and thanks to all of you.
I want to break this down into four areas, which I think we have heard are major concerns, and ask the non-departmental health officials to respond first. Then I'll ask Mr. Butler-Jones and Theresa and Jane to respond.
The first has to do with the concern that this bill is so focused on biosecurity that it is indiscriminate in terms of the types of pathogens and toxins we're dealing with and therefore will hamper research in this country. We've heard that over and over again. The last reference that we had was to what happened in the United States under legislation similar to the Patriot Act. In that case, researchers have decided to discontinue or not pursue research on regulated biological agents rather than implementing the new security regulations and bearing the associated financial burden.
That's my first question.
Do the witnesses have a comment on that aspect, and do the Health Canada and public health officials have a response to those concerns?