Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Of course I have. And I've had contact with other members as well. I've had contact in the past with members of the Conservative Party.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  I do not agree with everything you've said. I'm not here on behalf of any member of this committee to say things that they are not comfortable with saying. I'm here in response to an invitation I received—

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  —from the committee.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  May I finish my answer, sir, without being interrupted?

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Without a doubt. When seven people died in Walkerton--we all know the tragedy well--a proper inquiry with the power to compel witnesses and evidence occurred. When approximately 40 people died of SARS, a proper inquiry of the type I just described occurred. It is inexcusable. It is a denial that something serious has happened, and a continuing endangerment of Canadians that we are not undergoing an inquiry now.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  I don't know why we allow it, because it's certifiably foolish. The thought that a factory in Canada could manufacture one type of meat for export to the U.S. and the same type of meat--same flavour, same cuts--that are consumed in Canada, and that these two packages could contain different amounts of bacteria, the American one zero per 25 grams, the Canadian one 2,500 per 25 grams, has no rational explanation.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Obviously, you cannot avoid contact with bacteria, because they are everywhere; however, disease is another matter. Cars are a good example. They are everywhere as well, but you can definitely avoid fatal car accidents. There is no reason to accept the idea that because germs are everywhere, disease should necessarily follow.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Easter. I won't go into the full detail of what's already in the editorial, since it's in the record, but briefly, the errors fall into two categories. First, there is the error of maintaining inadequate standards, unprotective standards, low standards for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in ready-to-eat food.

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Professor Amir Attaran of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. I'm also on the editorial team of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and I'm trusting that our editorial of last year on the listeriosis problem has now been circulated to everyone on the committee.