Health committee  Thank you very much, Chair, for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the issues surrounding highly sweetened, high-alcoholic beverages sold in large-format, single-serve containers. Health Canada is concerned about the health risk posed by these types of alcoholic bevera

Health committee  Yes. As new information becomes available, we certainly can take those steps to open up regs and revise them.

Health committee  At this point in time we don't, but when we start to draft the regulations we have to do a cost-benefit analysis as part of our regulatory procedures, so we will know then, but we do not at this time.

Health committee  It is a Treasury Board directive that we follow in terms of how we develop all regulations. We go through a gazetting process. We develop the policy, we draft the regulations, and it goes for a formal consultation in Canada Gazette, part I. Prior to doing that, we do full costi

Health committee  Yes. Everyone is welcome to provide comments.

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  That can happen as well. It would go through a very formal consultation process in terms of opening them up and revising them. We recently did that. An example is our nutrition facts table. Hasan, those regulations were promulgated back in, what, the early 2000s?

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  I think it's also worthwhile to point out that the FDA conducted, with its own set of experts, a completely independent review. That was done by scientists in the United States, who came to the same conclusions we did about this product.

Agriculture committee  Certainly. Though the Arctic apple was approved—I believe less than a year ago—it is not available on the market because they are in the process of planting the trees, but the trees have to grow for a few years before they start to produce fruit. It is not available now, but it m

Agriculture committee  That's right.

Agriculture committee  There are no other genetically modified animals in the pipeline right now.

Agriculture committee  Approximately 120—

Agriculture committee  Yes, it's 120 products.