Okay. I'll try to do this quickly.
This is an issue that is very important to our veterans, so I want to just carry on a little bit with it. The Guardian article also quotes Professor Jane Quinn, a pharmaceuticals researcher at Charles Sturt University. It reads:
Originally from the UK, Quinn's husband, Major Cameron Quinn, was an officer in the British army and was given mefloquine during a training exercise in Kenya in 2001.
He suffered depression and nightmares immediately after taking the drug,...and he eventually took his own life in 2006.
I am sure you're familiar with those reactions.
Professor Quinn now works with military veterans exposed to antimalarial drugs, including mefloquine, to study neuropsychiatric conditions that arise from taking the drugs. She said that while the number of personnel given mefloquine today is minimal, that has not historically been the case—and this is what we're experiencing in Canada, as well—particularly for those individuals taking part in clinical trials in the 1990s.
She goes on to state the need for a study to:
evaluate and untangle all the different things that might be causing these symptoms and ascertain what is being caused by the drug and what is being caused by...other factors that can impact an individual over their lifetime.
With the proactive work you guys have already been doing in this area, we really feel there is a need for an independent study, and since we have the same concerns, do you think there would be scope for an international collaboration with the Canadian government and Canadian veterans to deal with this issue that's clearly something that's on the forefront with our allies?