Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak today on this issue, a bill that deals with human pathogens and toxins. It is an issue that is very important for all Canadians. It is a public health issue that has both domestic and international implications.
The bill deals with the proper handling of human pathogens, the safety and security of our researchers, and those involved in treating people who are ill. They have to be engaged. This bill ensures that Canada's laboratory legislation is in line with that of other international partners, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
I want to take this opportunity to showcase an area of excellence that perhaps many Canadians are not aware of. In Winnipeg, we have one of only 14 level 4 laboratories in the entire world. Dr. Frank Plummer is the chief scientist there. As a Canadian, I want to compliment the people who work at the Public Health Agency level 4 laboratory in Winnipeg and the work that Dr. Plummer and his team have been doing there.
In fact, just last year, they made some groundbreaking discoveries into HIV-AIDS. They were studying Kenyan prostitutes that seemed to have a resistance to the HIV virus. They have managed to do a lot of work on identifying aspects around that, which I hope will have implications for us in order to deal with this. It is one of the biggest scourges to ever hit our species. It has already claimed more than 35 million lives so far that we are aware of and it is probably a lot more than that.
I also want to talk about the issue of laboratory testing. We saw tragically last year in Newfoundland where the testing of pathology samples was not done in an effective way. Many women received diagnoses that were not correct and subsequently received medical care that was inadequate, unnecessary and sometimes damaging to their health. We cannot allow that to happen and no one in the House wants that to happen. There is an opportunity on the part of the government to work with the provinces to establish national standards for immunohistological and pathological testing for tissue samples.
In my view, we need to have a national standard for immunohistochemical testing in our country so that laboratories all operate under the same standard. We need to have national electronic reporting standards, national quality management standards, and common follow-up and reporting standards. This is important because patients will understandably go in with a great deal of anxiety to be tested for something they are deeply worried about. Oftentimes, they are worried that they may have cancer. It is exceedingly important that we develop national standards as to how those patients are treated and how the reporting mechanism takes place, so that no patients fall through the cracks and all are able to receive timely knowledge about test results. It is also important to have national licensing and regulations for this.
I also want to talk for a minute about the issue of pathogens in two ways. First, we have natural catastrophes that take place, such as what we are seeing potentially right now in Mexico. We know that the flu pandemics that occur roughly every 20 to 30 years kill many people. We know that this happens and that it is going to happen again. The virus that does this is an avian flu virus that generally begins somewhere in south China. This virus is an RNA virus. It has eight genes. It is pretty sloppy. These genes come and go very easily when the virus multiplies.
That type of virus is very difficult to treat and follow because it is always changing its structure. This virus is in aquatic birds. As they move through their breeding patterns, which run from Indonesia to Siberia, those birds actually fly into areas where there are domestic birds. There is a transference of this virus to domestic birds. If this virus keeps on changing, the danger we have is that the flu virus will change itself so much that it can go from aquatic birds to domestic birds, swine to humans, and eventually from human to human. That is our worst case scenario.
That has happened in the past and we know it will happen in the future. There are dozens of viruses that have actually moved from animals and birds to humans. HIV is an example of that. There are other viruses that are residing in animals. We know those viruses will change and cross the species barrier and affect us. The important thing is to have the mechanisms in place with the proper surveillance, the proper approach and the rapid response that is required.
I do not hear anything from the government as to what it has been doing to improve our surveillance and response capabilities. This has to occur under public health because this is a public health issue. The government has an absolute moral obligation and a duty to the public to establish a surveillance mechanism that is national and that ties up with other countries, so we would have an international surveillance mechanism. We also need to have rapid response. If we have a rapid response to natural pathogens and natural outbreaks, then we can also apply it to bioterrorism.
One of our concerns is that we could have a chemical, biological or radiological attack on our shores. These viruses can run from anything from anthrax to botulism to small pox. Our concern is that we do not see the government responding to this issue, which is an international issue.
The biological and chemical weapons treaty that exists needs to be strengthened. We also need to work with our partners. There is a great opportunity to intelligently work with the new administration in the United States. We would not only have a North American surveillance mechanism but we would lead in this area so that we are able to transfer this in order to develop the international surveillance mechanism that is required to not only deal with natural pathogens but also to address bioterrorism.
Groups have been trying to acquire these materials, the source of which exists in many government labs, and some of these exist in the old U.S.S.R. One of our concerns is the post-collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the fragmentation of that country. There are many laboratories and sources of these pathogens in some of these countries. The control mechanisms on these pathogens, as the control mechanisms on nuclear material, are wanting.
There is also the issue of the scientists in these countries and what they are doing with their time and expertise. It is very important for us to see this as not only a national problem but quite frankly an international problem. We as a nation can use our fine scientists, like Dr. Frank Plummer and his team, and many others in our country, to work together to provide a surveillance mechanism that our country and our citizens need.
Part of the response must also involve our reserves. The reserves in our country and our Canadian Forces are exceptionally well-trained people. At some time I would like to hear the Minister of National Defence tell the House what he is doing to enable our reserve forces to have the tools to respond to chemical, radiological and biological warfare that may occur and affect our citizens.
There have been some tests and responses here in Ottawa by our military. That is wonderful, but what they need is a greater investment in training and equipment to enable them to respond in an effective way.
I will simply close by saying that in the human pathogens and toxins act to which we are speaking, the government must not see this simply as a local issue, a national issue, but as an international issue.
The government has to listen to some of the studies that have been done that provide good solutions, such as the Walkerton inquiry, to make sure we have national standards for water, to prevent domestic waterborne disease outbreaks, and deal with the studies that have been done on past reports in Newfoundland and adopt those national standards. It should also work with our international partners, so we truly have an integrated mechanism of surveillance and response to these challenges that can be lethal and that affect and kill millions of our citizens.
