Mr. Speaker, I see that my own government does not want my bill. In any case, the bill has died so the government must be quite happy. I listened to all this panoply of wonderful measures the government would take. I did not see anything that contradicted my bill.
I ask the government this. How come the 28 states of the United States produce ethanol? How come in Minnesota alone produces more ethanol then we would produce with our 10 year plan? It is because they have legislated oxygenation of fuel. It is that simple. If we oxygenate fuel and legislate it, then the oil companies are bound to do it. It sparks a tremendous production of oxygenated fuels in the land. In answer to the member from Prince George, I never said that MMT kills. I never said anything like that. I said a lot of studies show that it is an impairment on the motor systems of human beings. There is lot of evidence to support this.
My colleague from Sarnia disappointed me most of all. He is a loud speaker for the oil industry from Sarnia. He said we were comparing manganese with Tim Hortons doughnuts in applying a precautionary principle. He was not there when Rio was created. He was not there for the discussions about chemical toxins.
I will mention a number of experts who say manganese is a toxin and is dangerous to human health. Two famous scientists in Canada, Dr. John Donaldson and Dr. Frank Labella have done extensive studies. They have appeared before the Western Psychiatric Institute of the University of Pittsburgh, and the health and environment committee of the U.S. congress on this issue. They appeared before the U.S. house of representatives in 1990 which had extensive hearings on MMT.
There are also other doctors, Dr. Kimberley Treinen, Dr. Tim Gray of England, Dr. William Blazak, who was cited by my colleague from the NDP, Dr. Donna Mergler, who is carrying out a study for the U.S. EPA at the University of Montreal and Dr. Joseph Zayed, who showed that manganese was not good for us and that it affected the motor system of human beings.
The parliamentary secretary told us how the government is going to marvellously clean the air but it does not want to address the MMT issue. By legislating oxygenation of gasoline, we then force the oil companies to produce natural additives such as ethanol. It lessens the need for MMT. We are the only industrialized nation to use MMT.
My colleague from Sarnia mentioned Venezuela, as a developing nation, uses MMT. He is not correct. I never mentioned that. I said that industrialized nations that use unleaded gas today do not use MMT. We are the only guinea pigs in the world that do. He mentioned that MMT is not used in 30% of the gasoline in the United States. I got a letter from the U.S. EPA last year. It said that it used MMT in .002% of all gasoline in the United States. This officially came from the U.S. EPA.
This is why my bill never contradicted all the various measures that the government has taken on clean air. On the contrary, we rejoice about more money being put into the environment. What is the contradiction between this and discussing a bill which will oxygenate gasoline and force it by legislation? I do not see any.
What is the contradiction between what the government is going to do and saying that by 2005 we will get rid of MMT. We had many debates in the past on MMT while the legislation was before us. The only reason it was thrown out was because of trade reasons. It was not thrown out because of environmental and health reasons.
It is true that in 1994 our health ministry decided that it was not harmful to human health when used as an additive. Now the health ministry has decided to recant itself. It has ordered Dr. Mergler and other famous scientists in Canada, who are specialists in manganese, to review the whole issue.
There is a multi-year study being carried out by Health Canada today on manganese. If it felt that the 1994 study was so conclusive, it would not have ordered this new study. It is because time after time scientists are saying “beware”. I do not say that the proof is conclusive. At the time the battle over lead was going on, Ethyl Corporation, the purveyors of lead and the same purveyors of MMT, was telling us how good lead was for us. It was the same kind of debate. Lead is wonderful.
Now that we have banned lead in Canada, thank the Lord, what do they do with the lead? It is sold to developing nations and the poor. People who are using it in their gasoline are being poisoned by lead. It is the same people today who sell us MMT and tell us how great MMT is and how good manganese is for us.
Manganese is not doughnuts at Tim Hortons. It is far more serious.
I believe people like Drs. Mergler and Zayed before I believe my colleague from Sarnia. I believe the U.S. EPA as well. I do not know why the government thinks, because it has not thought of it, that this environmental legislation is not good enough for it.
I am terribly sorry that it is dying here and that we will not have a chance to debate it in committee, where I would have loved to have debated it with the parliamentary secretary.