I'm not sure if I'm the best qualified person to answer that.
There obviously has been concern about the possibility of micro-organisms being used for bioterrorism. Some of the precedents for that are the suspected use of anthrax and other agents in the Iraq-Iran war. There was the incident of the anthrax attack in the United States through the mail, which allegedly was carried out by a Department of Defense scientist employed by the government, who had passed through security checks to get his position.
There is again a question as to what measures we can really introduce that would prevent something like that. I suppose there is a general sentiment because of things like SARS and Walkerton, that there's concern in the public about microbial infection, which is not necessarily going to be addressed by this act at all.
I think part of the reason the Canadian government wants to address this is that the American government is doing it, and we do have to walk in step with our neighbours on the same continent with whom we share a long border. There is also the concern that small companies and things like that would not necessarily be observing the currently existing biohazard guidelines. They're not obtaining their funds from national research councils like CIHR or NSERC, and therefore they're not subject to the biohazards certification to carry out that research. I think there is a rationale for trying to bring everybody to the same level playing field if they're doing microbiology research, to make sure they're all following the same rules. We respect that in our society.