James Lunney

[Food and Drugs Act, November 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Burnaby--Douglas for his contribution to this debate, and the member from the Bloc for some valuable contribution, as well as my colleague from Oshawa who introduced the bill.

I have to take exception to some of the remarks made by the parliamentary secretary in his debate a few moments ago. He has mentioned that there are some 50,000, some would say 60,000, natural health products, that are used in Canada today, and that if we do not examine them all before we make them available, we will fail to protect Canadians.

In one issue that the Fraser Institute raised in its analysis, it called Canada's proposed regulatory framework for natural health products “a cure worse than the illness” in light of international evidence. The very fact is we have rules about when regulations should be necessary for government. There has to be a demonstrated need for these rules. There has to be some sort of cost benefit analysis. When the adverse effects of the natural health products, from which the minister would protect Canadians, are lower than Aspirin or Tylenol, I have to question why we need such a monstrous regulatory regime that would characterize natural health products as drugs when they are natural components.

He has mentioned that a committee is looking at what should be done with schedule A. I wonder if Canadians realize that when we are talking about this schedule of some 40 diseases, it goes back to, as far as we can determine, 1934. We have clauses 3(1) and 3(2) in the Food and Drugs Act that say, “they shall not label or advertise that a vitamin, mineral or herb or a natural product will influence anything on the schedule of diseases”, schedule A. Schedule A concerns some diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart disease. How is it that in 1934 Canada was so advanced in our science and research that we already knew that none of these products could possibly influence anything on this schedule? Why are we looking at this in a new century, in 2004, whether we should change some of these antiquated clauses that came into effect way back in the 1930s?

The explosion of scientific information on the benefits of natural health products is astronomical. For example, heart disease is on the list. The hon. colleague from Oshawa mentioned folic acid. There are a thousand articles in the last five years alone, in scientific literature, on the benefits of folic acid, in particular with cardiovascular disease. That is our number one killer. We are concerned about the cost of health care, but Canadians are dying because of heart disease and stroke, and there is compelling scientific evidence that one of the best things they can do to lower the risk is take a simple folic acid supplement. I hope members in the House are listening today because we should all be taking folic acid. I took it this morning and I take it every day.

We now understand the biochemistry. It has more to do with heart disease than cholesterol for example. We are spending hundreds of millions on trying to diagnose cholesterol levels when we know now that there are people who genetically have very high levels of cholesterol all their lives and never develop serious heart disease. Then there are others who have very low levels of cholesterol, but who develop very serious heart disease. Therefore, there has to be another factor. Researchers at UBC were saying, at least six years ago, that we should test for homocysteine. We now understand this simple amino acid, which damages the lining of the vessels, allows cholesterol to be deposited. However, we are not supposed to tell Canadians that because of these stupid and antiquated clauses in the Food and Drugs Act.

Arthritis is on that list. This perverse regulation, which still exists and which Health Canada seems determined to maintain, has the effect in clauses 3(1) and 3(2) of having Health Canada prosecute some of our most effective natural health product companies in Canada. For example, Strauss Herb Company has 219 charges against it. It is based in British Columbia. Mr. Strauss, an old-fashioned European-style herbalist with very good quality products, has been charged with some 219 charges recently by Health Canada under this antiquated act, over a half million dollars in legal charges.

After harassing the company and pushing the legal process as far as it could, it dropped the charges. Guess what? They will not stand a constitutional challenge. Health Canada will not win this case in court, but it can try to kill the company with a half million dollars in legal fees. This is unacceptable. Now Health Canada has gone and used GST and decided natural health products should be charged GST. It has backdated this retroactively and has come up with another half million dollars to try to squeeze the company that way because it did not charge GST on the products that were sold.

There is another company on Vancouver Island called Biomedica. It produces an excellent product called Recovery Medicine. There are people on the Hill whom I know are taking Recovery Medicine. It really helps with arthritis. This product won international recognition for the benefits in the racehorse industry. Frankly people in that industry spend a lot of money on their charges. A valuable animal could earn a lot of money for the owner. Recovery Medicine, was rated number one in the world for the improvement in horses with ligament and tendon injuries. Some would say that those are horses and we are people. Guess what? Ligaments and tendons are made out of the same stuff in horses as they are in people.

This product was tested on dancers in Denmark and they had phenomenal recovery rates. Yet, Health Canada says this company is violating subsections 3(1) and 3(2) because in 1934 we were so advanced in Canada. We already knew that recovery medicine, a simple natural health product, would not help people with arthritic problems.

The parliamentary secretary mentioned that, after all these years of research into arthritis, we know there is no cure, but it can be managed with drugs. Frankly, with that type of attitude, it will be another 40 years and we will still be managing these things. It is time to let science back into the debate and look at all avenues of approach in solving some of these problems.

If they are low cost, non-threatening, and there is no risk to the patient, why is Health Canada worried about over-regulating them? I would encourage all members to look at this subject seriously. We had agreement to take it to second reading the last time. In the last Parliament it was in committee and evidence was being heard.

A couple of members mentioned Empower Plus. We had principally women come here who had been impacted by bipolar disease, as well as many men. An 11-year-old boy was here. He came with his mother from Nova Scotia. He had only been able to go to school for a year and a half because prior to that he was trying to hurt himself all the time. This product has had a phenomenal effect on people with bipolar disease in particular.

Why is it that Health Canada would send in the police to raid this little company, with no evidence of harming anybody and tremendous evidence of benefit, steal its computers, and contact 3,000 Canadians to tell them to get back on their psychiatric drugs and off this natural vitamin and mineral based compound?

We have tremendous health costs in this country. It is time to let science back in. Science is not threatened by looking at something from a different angle. Science itself would say, “It looks like there is a benefit here. Why don't we research it?” It is time to open that envelope and look at all avenues of approach. I believe Canadians would appreciate that. Those who use these natural products will appreciate the freedom of choice and being able to access the natural products that they know benefit them.

I hope all members will take this matter seriously, stand with us, and amend it if we need to. Let us find a way to get these natural health products out to people without an unnecessary bureaucratic obstruction that limits their freedom of choice and freedom of information in such an important area.

[Food and Drugs Act, November 29th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to congratulate my colleague on presenting Bill C-420. It is a very important bill for Canadians.

In the 37th Parliament a similar bill made it to second reading with the help of members from all sides of the House. It was at committee stage when the House folded for the election, but during that interval we have already had over 150,000 signatures on petitions in support of the bill. We are still receiving signatures in favour of the bill, which would change the way natural health products are regulated.

I think it is important for Canadians to understand that the bill would still allow for good manufacturing practices and for office and site inspections. We want to make sure that what is on the label is in the bottle and that the appropriate part of the product is still in the product, that is, the active ingredients and so on. That is part of the bill.

Because the member did not have time to bring it up in his speech, I want to draw attention to a study done by the Fraser Institute on this very thing. They discussed Canada's proposed regulatory framework on natural health products in light of international evidence. The study was called “A Cure Worse than the Illness”.

The report talks about the safety of natural health products and points out, as the member has, that the risk factor is so low with natural health products. With the some 60,000 natural health products that Canadians consume, there are fewer serious adverse reactions than there are to Aspirin or Tylenol alone.

The member mentioned melatonin. I know that with his experience as a health care practitioner he would be aware of the benefits of chromium picolinate for diabetics and folic acid for cardiovascular disease. Would he care to comment on the safety of natural health products and some of the benefits that he has observed in his own practice as a health care practitioner?

[Supply, November 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Chair, a lot of serious concerns have been raised about what is causing this escalating epidemic, really, of autism; that is probably not the right terminology, but the numbers are escalating unbelievably.

There are concerns about the repeated use of antibiotics for childhood ear infections. That may be a root cause. There are concerns about the vaccines that are administered, about the thimerosal or the mercury that is used in the vaccines. Some states in the U.S. have demanded that they start producing vaccines without mercury derivatives, which are highly neurotoxic.

I hope that there is someone, and why should it not be Canada, leading the world in actually addressing these issues, finding out if there is a root issue, doing some proper studies and making sure we get appropriate intervention for these children. Why should it not be Canada?

That being said, I want to go on to another issue that I believe is very important. We had a little talk today about health promotion and prevention by the member for Brampton—Springdale and the member for Dartmouth--Cole Harbour.

I want to say on the Food and Drugs Act, subsections 3(1) and 3(2) and schedule A, which continue to obstruct delivery of natural health products, that we understand the justice department has indicated that these sections are not constitutional, that they will not stand a constitutional challenge. There is a private member's bill that would change this.

The transition team asked for changes to this law. Is the minister prepared to acknowledge these sections are not constitutional and adopt the provisions of Bill C-420 to change the way we regulate natural health products?

[Supply, November 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Chair, it has been a long night for everybody. I am glad to be able to participate in this debate.

I want to bring up an issue that we started the day with today. It is a very important issue for quite a segment of our population. It has to do with the subject of autism.

This morning we had the Autism Society of Canada here. We had alarming statistics being brought forward. We have seen at least a tenfold increase in the last 10 years and in some areas the numbers are even a hundredfold and more. We know that autism used to be so rare and now in many classes there are two or three children with autism, at least in British Columbia where my wife is a counsellor in the elementary system. It is a huge problem.

The families of autistic children have of course suffered a great disappointment with the Supreme Court decision on treatment that has just come down. That particular treatment option deals with behavioural modification, a very intensive behavioural analysis. It costs about $50,000 to $60,000 per child.

More needs to be done to head this off early and intervene early so that we can prevent this catastrophe for families and for these children. That being said, I wanted to highlight that and ask the minister where the health ministry is going with this.

Just recently in the last weeks the New York senate commended and honoured Dr. Joan Fallon for a new study. It was the patenting of a process for early identification of these children and it involves a simple stool test. It has to do with pancreatic enzyme deficiency. This is very promising in the treatment of these children, with enzyme treatment improving their function.

What is the ministry doing to help head off this problem of autism? Are we doing something? Is there a strategy? Are we putting money through the CIHR or some other agency into identifying the cause of autism for these children and the appropriate treatment? By the way, Dr. Joan Fallon is a chiropractor. Along with the enzymatic treatment she does use manipulation of these kids as well. Is there a strategy and is something being planned?

[Health, November 4th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, a study published in the October 11 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine provides dramatic evidence that care for chronic back pain and neuro-musculoskeletal problems by chiropractors is less costly and more effective.

The four year study of 1.7 million patients concluded that if all of those studied had chiropractic coverage total health care costs would drop by 12% due to a reduced use of hospital beds, drugs, X-rays and most important, a speedier recovery.

This study confirms studies done in Canada by Dr. Pran Manga of the University of Ottawa. In 1998 Dr. Manga calculated that Ontario alone would likely save $548 million if it properly utilized chiropractic care. Extrapolated nationally, that would mean a savings of $2.2 billion.

If Canada is going to lead the world in health care outcomes, we will need to implement effectiveness and cost effectiveness strategies. This latest study indicates that if all health care professionals were properly utilized, not only would there be no doctor shortage, we could also reallocate precious health care resources--

[Supply, November 4th, 2004]

Stay away from the politics.

[Softwood Lumber, November 3rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's laissez-faire attitude is hardly appropriate given the great amount of money owed to our industry.

It is not just the forest workers in Nanaimo—Alberni who are suffering from the iniquitous imposition of countervailing duties. In Abitibi, Mauricie, Beauce and Bois-Francs, too, people are waiting for a fair and equitable settlement. The Liberals have fostered the distrust and disdain of the Americans. Today, their partisan choice will cost exporters dearly.

When, in fact, is the government going to return the overpayment to softwood lumber producers?

[Contraventions Act, November 2nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed listening to the debate on this important matter of Bill C-17, the decriminalization of marijuana. It was known in the previous Parliament as Bill C-10.

We already had a lot of debate on this subject in the previous Parliament. We on this side hoped that if legislation were to come forward again, we would see substantial changes to the bill that would make it possible for us to support the bill. However, the bill as it is presented is unworkable for a number of reasons, reasons that I think expose the Canadian public to risk in a number of areas. Unless the safeguards are put in place to make this a workable plan, it is simply not something that should proceed at this time.

The member for Wild Rose spoke just a few minutes ago, and I commend the member. I know he has a passion for the subject. Having served as a school principal for many years, he is concerned about young people. We applaud the concerns that he has expressed.

I, too, have seen the effects that drugs and marijuana have on young people in my own community. As a health professional, I am concerned about the effect on young people of liberalizing marijuana. I am concerned that some of the effects of the bill will encourage young people to get involved. I am concerned they will be targeted by older people to help them in distributing the product because the young persons would be given lower fines if caught.

I was pleased to hear the member for Pickering—Scarborough East who spoke a moment ago on the other side indicate his concern about some of the weaknesses in the bill, particularly as they relate to grow ops, the terrible problem they represent and the risks to firefighters and police who enter the homes. Also, organized crime reaps so much profit from marijuana grow ops in our communities. There is the spoilage of houses and the effect that has on the real estate market, and on very valuable realty.

Certainly, in British Columbia it is a huge issue. Officials estimate my home province has about 44% of the grow ops. We know it is also a big problem in the metro Toronto area. It is a huge problem in the Lower Mainland. I am sure the Speaker is quite aware of this.

I want to outline some of my concerns. I have four reasons why I am concerned about in the bill, and I will address each one of them. The first is the health consequences. The second is the hazard to society from impaired persons. The third is the increased effect it will have on criminal elements in our society and on the corruption of youth. The fourth is the effect on our borders.

First, on the health effects, smoking anything is not good for one. How much evidence do we need for this. The government has committed some $500 million supposedly over five years to help convince Canadians that smoking cigarettes is not a good idea. It is a lot of money that could be spent on other valuable projects and on other urgent health needs.

Along with a proposal from the minister that we would invest a further quarter of a billion dollars encouraging people not to smoke marijuana, we are at the same time looking at loosening the restrictions on marijuana. That is a lot of money, $250 million, that could be used on other things. It seems to me that the inconsistencies in these messages are something we ought to seriously investigate as members. I wonder if that does not tell us that we are headed in the wrong direction.

The other thing is the objective that has been set with this so-called $500 million targeted toward convincing people that smoking cigarettes is not good. We are not spending that money. I recently had people who were concerned about the effects of smoking cigarettes visit me in the office. Now the government, because of concerns about other sponsorship programs, has decided we had better scrutinize advertising very carefully. It has capped the advertising limits, including the advertising targeted toward young people to expose them to the risks of smoking cigarettes.

We have some terrible inconsistencies with this. On one hand we are loosening controls to make it available to people. On the other hand, we are spending money to convince them that they should not do it.

Smoking anything is not good for one. One's lungs take in the oxygen that is so important to keep us all healthy. I know all members in the House are interested in the effects of exercise and ensuring that we get aerobic conditions in the body that help us resist bacteria and viruses. Frankly, as a health care practitioner, exercise is an important ingredient in maintaining a healthy body. Part of that is due to getting the circulation going and getting oxygen around the tissues.

We will foul up our lungs, regardless of whether it is with tars and nicotine or with the stuff that is in marijuana, which is yet to be fully studied. We know there is THC in it which people are after for the buzz. It appears that the benzopyrene and the tars in marijuana are far more potent than what is in cigarette tobacco. If we are going to pollute our lungs with these compounds, some of which are known to be carcinogens, up to 20 times as toxic as what is in cigarette smoke, it certainly would indicate that we will see increased health consequences as people smoke more marijuana.

For those who want to make it available for medical reasons, I would suggest there are probably safer delivery systems. That may be through an oral route. However, smoking it is a non-starter from a health standpoint. Also, how effective THC is as a medication has yet to be studied.

As a health care practitioner, I am concerned about the rising health costs in Canada, which are sabotaging our ability to meet other needs in society. They are making it impossible for governments to administer to other needs of Canadians, such as education, infrastructure, roads, highways and all the other important things that governments have to deliver.

I have to go on the record as saying I think it is a bad idea. If we want to make marijuana available, let us not smoke it. Smoking anything is not good.

We could do what is done in other areas of insurance. For example, if one is a high risk person with many car accidents, the insurance company charges more for one to have the ability to drive. We should talk about that. If persons are going to do something that is of high risk to their personal health, which is going to put the liability on the public to look after them, then perhaps there should be some accountability and they should pay a higher health premium of some kind to access that product.

That is not party policy. I am talking as a health care practitioner who is concerned about an unmitigated risk. As members of Parliament, we are contemplating doing something without making adequate provisions to look after the consequences. Therefore, I am concerned about the health effects of smoking marijuana.

I am also concerned that we do not have any means of testing for impairment. We have many heavy equipment operators where I live. There are guys working on the side of the road with graders. They are working with heavy equipment. We have many elderly people in my riding. We could have grandma coming out of the driveway while the plough is coming along doing some road work. We want to know that the guy operating that equipment can notice her and not plough her off the road. Some of these dear seniors in our area have stiff necks and sometimes their vision is not so good. We want to ensure they are safe.

Therefore, we have no means for testing the ability of someone to operate heavy duty equipment. Yes, we are talking about a blood test. Perhaps there is a blood test that would be available. Imagine a police officer on the side of the road trying to administer a blood test to someone who might be impaired? I have seen people impaired on marijuana. They can be as plastered and as disabled as someone on alcohol or any other intoxicant. That is a concern.

I am also concerned about the effect on our borders and on organized crime. The effect of loosening up the marijuana restrictions are going to have untold consequences at our borders. We already have huge problems.

Our automakers visited us today. They are concerned about the delays their products at the border. That can make a difference as to whether an auto manufacturer wants to create parts on one side of the border or the other. We will be tying up our borders even more if we are as concerned as U.S. is about what products might cross them.

A lot of issues need to be addressed. We need to look at the fines that will be imposed. For young people to get a lesser fine is a clear signal that older people will to target young people. They will make sure they have a young one to pass the goods to, so he or she gets the lesser fine. That is a very risky way to go. It is a way to guarantee that older people will target younger ones to avoid the consequences of their own misbehaviour.

I hope that members will pay attention to the debate and that we will do the right thing on this bill.

[Health, November 1st, 2004]

Madam Speaker, there have been over 600 deaths in Quebec in the past year alone, all related to a bacterial infection contracted in hospitals. Over 7,000 are believed to have been infected with clostridium difficile .

Reports have focused on the need for hand washing, over crowding and over use of antibiotics. Concerns were raised as far back as July in the CMA Journal that the deaths were related to patients who enter the hospital taking common stomach medication. Gastric acid inhibitors or proton pump inhibitors are routinely prescribed for patients believed to have excess stomach acid. Research indicates the combination of these medications with broad spectrum antibiotics increases the risk of serious infection by two and a half times.

After the opposition raised this issue 11 days ago, the Canadian Public Health Agency posted a warning on its website. There are now concerns that C. difficile is spreading beyond the hospitals.

We have known about this risk since July. When is the government going to warn doctors and advise all Canadians of the increased risk that gastric acid inhibitors present, especially when combined with broad spectrum antibiotics?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 7th, 2004]

Madam Speaker, I would like to commend the hon. member for both his speech and his intervention. We know that he is very knowledgeable on the subject of the environment. I look forward to having him in my riding shortly to speak on this matter.

The previous member asked him a question about Kyoto, which is where I want to go as well. The other member, being a new member, may not know that the hon. member for Red Deer actually occupied three days of the House's time in speaking about Kyoto and is probably the most knowledgeable member here.

I want to ask him a specific question in relation to Kyoto. The U.S., our largest border partner and trading partner, has not signed Kyoto. Most of our development is along the 49th, with the northern United States underdeveloped now. Increasingly, with investment, many of our firms are owned at least in part by U.S. firms, thanks to the low Canadian dollar. If we implement Kyoto without the U.S., will this not cripple Canadian industry as we watch investment go south of the border and the development of the northern U.S. at our expense?