Thought Control at Health Canada

Health Canada fired three "troublemaking" scientists this summer, with Parliament out of session and whistle-blower protection legislation looming. That's no coincidence. In May 2004, Health Canada was awarded the Canadian Association of Journalists' Code of Silence award, which recognizes the most secretive government department in Canada.

Health Canada regularly tries to silence employees who speak against the views of top bureaucrats or the Minister of Health. The three who lost their jobs this time are Shiv Chopra, Margaret S. Haydon, and G?rd Lambert, scientists in the veterinary drugs directorate. Firing them together sends a strong message to other employees that dissent will not be tolerated, despite the claims of Health Canada spokesman Ryan Baker that "this is not because of anything they may have said publicly."

Chopra and Haydon became well-known in the 1990s when they publicly opposed the approval of recombinant bovine growth hormone, which is Monsanto's genetically engineered dairy "management tool." Chopra had also spoken out about his 35-year career with Health Canada, which featured no major promotions even though performance appraisals noted his "fully satisfactory performance" and "management potential." Haydon had testified to the Senate about files being stolen from her locked cabinet and a meeting with Monsanto where department scientists were offered bribes to the tune of $1 to 2 million.

Restrictions on whistle-blowers have become increasingly stringent. In 1998 Chopra was forbidden to talk on genetic engineering at the Ottawa "Y" and he was suspended for five days without pay after appearing at a Heritage Canada meeting on employment equity.

By 2001 five employees were complaining to the Public Service Commission about being passed over for promotion due to their views. These included opposition to the antibiotics Baytril for chickens and cows and Tylosin for beef cows over concerns about antibiotic resistance and the risk of cancer.

In 2003 Chopra, Haydon, and Lambert wrote an internal memo to the minister suggesting that bans on feeding animal-based products to cows be tightened to exclude all remaining products, such as those containing blood and gelatin, because of the risk of mad cow disease. Even though Chopra did not speak publicly, he was suspended for two weeks and fined three months pay.

Ironically, the views of Chopra, Haydon, and Lambert are not radical. They have criticized specific drugs and vaccines, but not allopathic medicine in general. Chopra, for example, criticized a proposal to stockpile smallpox vaccine not because of concerns over side effects, but because 80 percent of Canadians have already been vaccinated, leading him to believe that a bioterrorist-induced epidemic was impossible.

Someone who considers scientific evidence in favour of alternative medications and who questions the use of pharmaceuticals and vaccines would never be hired by Health Canada, let alone stay around long enough to be fired.

The latest shenanigans show that Health Canada is just a thin veneer over a monoculture of ideas manufactured by the pharmaceutical, biotech, and chemical industries.