For more on the sackings:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4143
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Judicial inquiry needed into Health Canada firings
Community Press Online
http://www.communitypress-online.com/template.php?id=15851&RECORD_KEY(Ag)=id&id(Ag)=15851

"The Canadian government must launch an immediate judicial inquiry into the firing of three senior Health Canada scientists. An inquiry would serve two vital purposes: to gain justice for the scientists, and, even more important, to investigate allegations of political interference, bribery, industry meddling, and improper drug approvals within Health Canada," said National Farmers Union President Stewart Wells.

Wells was commenting on the recent firing of scientists Gerard Lambert, Margaret Haydon, and Shiv Chopra. The three had repeatedly spoken out on matters of public health and safety. They raised concerns about genetically modified Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) ”” a drug later banned in Canada. They questioned the safety of veterinary antibiotics carbadox and Baytril and suggested possible links to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And the scientists criticized the adequacy of Canadian safeguards against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) long before the first case of the disease was detected in a Canadian cow.

"The firing of these scientists is certainly tied to their years of speaking out in the public interest. It appears that a government that prides itself on making decisions based on 'sound science' has decided that it needs to get itself more submissive scientists," said Wells.

Margaret Haydon and Shiv Chopra won a September 2000 Federal Court of Canada case they brought after they were reprimanded for speaking publicly about risks posed by certain veterinary drugs. In its ruling, the court ruled:

"Where a matter is of legitimate public concern requiring a public debate, the duty of loyalty cannot be absolute to the extent of preventing public disclosure by a government official. The common law of duty does not impose unquestioning silence."