Mr. Speaker, first let me say how much I have appreciated the seriousness with which members of parliament have taken this issue. I have appreciated the input from the members of all parties who have spoken in the House today.
It is clear that there is a general consensus in this place for action with regard to adverse reactions caused by pharmaceuticals in our society today. There are obviously differences in approach. Various suggestions have been made about how we can pursue this matter. I have listened seriously and will come back with further suggestions and recommendations based on that advice.
I am certainly encouraged by the words from the member from Oakville, the chairperson of the health committee, who I understand has spoken on behalf of the government and has given us a very clear indication that the present government is taking this recommendation very seriously.
At the end of my remarks I was going to move the usual motion to seek unanimous consent to make this motion votable. I will not do that today given the words from the government side and the clear indication of support from the member from Oakville who has said the government will be taking this under advisement, looking at it very seriously, and making recommendations before the year since the inquest into Vanessa Young's death has passed.
That means we can expect action on this matter no later than April 2002. Mr. Speaker, you can be sure we will be holding the government to account for those intentions and pursuing every avenue we can to make that a reality.
A couple of other suggestions were made that deserve quick comment. The member for Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca has indicated that perhaps we should look at a system that separates out fatal or near fatal reactions from this broad request for mandatory reporting. I will pursue that carefully, but I want to stress that I think the purpose of this motion is to take every precaution we can to ensure that people do not experience death or near death experiences.
I think a broader mandate is required in this instance and I have yet to hear any substantive arguments for why this would be so difficult to implement. In fact the suggestions made from others in the House indicate that it is a feasible idea that could be implemented fairly quickly.
I want to also say to my colleague from the Bloc, the member for Hochelaga--Maisonneuve, that he raises a very important issue about the House looking at the whole issue of drug costs, which is indeed the fastest rising element of our health care system. We know in fact that drug costs have risen over 87% in the last decade.
As a parliament and as a health committee we need to look at the reasons for those cost increases. We need to look at patent protection. We need to look at over prescribing. We need to look at people not filling prescriptions because of a lack of resources to buy expensive drugs. We need to look at the whole range of issues that are driving up the costs of our health care system and in fact putting our whole medicare system on a very weak footing. It is a very important issue that we have to pursue.
In the meantime, today we look to addressing one part of the problem facing our health care system and that is the serious costs in terms of human health and sustainability of our system because of adverse drug reactions. We can do something about that. It takes not only reporting of those incidents, it requires good quality reporting, sharing of the information and action on the part of the government.
Let us not forget that with regard to the death of Vanessa Young mandatory reporting was part of the problem, but more critical was the inaction of the government when it knew that there were adverse drug reactions, that there were serious illnesses associated with the use of this drug Prepulsid and that there were deaths occurring because of Prepulsid being available on the market.
We have to call for vigilance on all fronts. Again I thank all members for sharing in this very important debate and for their valuable advice.