Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak with you this morning about Health Canada's role in regulating genetically modified foods, including GM animals intended for human consumption in Canada. Health Canada's mission is to help Canadians maintain and improve their

Agriculture committee  Paul mentioned a little bit about their role. There are three departments involved in looking at genetically modified organisms. Of course, the CFIA has the responsibility for the animal feed use. We look at human food safety, and Environment looks at the potential impacts of the

Agriculture committee  I would suggest that you speak to Environment, but I can say that if they wanted to do something different than what they've applied for, then they would have to resubmit an application to Environment Canada in order to have that approval.

Agriculture committee  That's right. It's specific to growing those in containment in Panama.

Agriculture committee  It's a promoter gene that has been genetically engineered into the Atlantic salmon from that species. I'm wondering if your question is whether this actually changes the species.

Agriculture committee  No.

Agriculture committee  Yes, it will grow to its normal size in half the time, so instead of two years, it will grow to its normal size and weight in one year.

Agriculture committee  That's correct.

Agriculture committee  I'm not aware of that, but I know that all of the studies that are out there have been considered in terms of the assessment that has been done, and it has been determined to be safe. Again, I think it's important to remember that it is not approved for release into the wild. Th

Agriculture committee  Their role was to look at the impact of that organism on the environment.

Agriculture committee  I think absolutely that the government does have a very important role in terms of explaining the safety assessment process and how decisions are made, and in making that information public and transparent. As I mentioned earlier, we publish very detailed scientific assessments o

Agriculture committee  I would add that we've been approving GM food since 1993, so these products have been on the market for almost 23 years. As my colleague said, we're not aware of any events or any sort of health consequences that have been linked to GM foods.

Agriculture committee  Yes, we are just talking about plants.

Agriculture committee  We don't look at any other food in this kind of detail. We don't look at anything at a molecular level the way we look at these products. This is a thorough and comprehensive scientific safety assessment that's not just conducted by Health Canada scientists, but it is also conduc

Agriculture committee  As Paul mentioned, we also do a lot of pre-consultation—pre-submission consultation—with companies. We encourage them to do so and to come in, especially the ones who are not as experienced or are bringing in products for the first time. We have that discussion with them so they'