Dr Shiv Chopra and CAnada milk

[Rosamma Thomas]

Dr. Nancy Olivieri reposted

Frank

@FrankVeri

·

19h

Monsanto wanted its growth hormone in every glass of Canadian milk. One government scientist stood in the way and his own bosses spent 14 years trying to destroy him for it. His name was Dr. Shiv Chopra. Born in India, 1934. Came to Canada in the 1960s. PhD in microbiology. Senior scientist at Health Canada's Bureau of Veterinary Drugs. 35 years reviewing drug applications. Approve the safe ones. Reject the unsafe ones. Protect the public. For 20 years he did it quietly. Then Monsanto came knocking. A new drug. Bovine growth hormone. Brand name Posilac. Inject it into dairy cows, get 10-15% more milk. Bigger profits for the industry. Far bigger profits for Monsanto. The FDA had rubber-stamped it in 1993. Monsanto expected Canada to follow. The file landed on Chopra's desk. He started reading the science. He started finding holes. The data was thin. Long-term safety studies were missing. The cow studies that did exist showed lameness, mastitis, reproductive failure, shortened lifespans. If it was doing that to the cow, what was it doing to the milk? His recommendation: reject it. Demand real safety data. His managers had a different idea. Approve it. The Americans approved it. Why are you holding it up? Just sign off. He refused. So the pressure started. Closed-door meetings. Attempts to pull the file and hand it to someone friendlier. Gag orders don't talk to the media, don't talk to anyone. Suspensions. Reprimands. Demotions. Dead-end reassignments. He kept refusing. Two other scientists refused with him. Dr. Margaret Haydon. Dr. Gérard Lambert. Same data. Same alarm. Same answer. In 1998 the Canadian Senate launched an investigation into what was happening inside Health Canada. Chopra and his colleagues did something almost nobody does. They walked into the Senate and testified under oath. Said managers were pressuring them to approve unsafe drugs. Said industry was running the regulator. Said the system was broken. It made headlines around the world. In 1999, Health Canada rejected Monsanto's application. rBGH would not be approved. Europe banned it next. Then most of the developed world. Sit with that. One immigrant scientist in Ottawa beat one of the largest chemical corporations on Earth — and won. Then his own government fired him for winning. July 14, 2004. After 35 years of service, Health Canada fired Chopra, Haydon, and Lambert on the same day. Official reason: insubordination. Real reason: he embarrassed them in front of the country. The same year, the Prime Minister mailed him a gold watch for "illustrious service." While they were firing him. He called it comedy. He sued to clear his name. The fight took 13 years. He lost appeal after appeal. The final ruling came down in 2017. Three months later, in January 2018, he died. 83 years old. Never reinstated. Never given his pension back. Never owed an apology by anyone. But here is what they could never take back. rBGH is still banned in Canada today. Every glass of Canadian milk is still hormone-free — because one man refused to sign. And the United States? Never banned it. It's still legal there. Right now. He kept it out of Canada and they fired him. The system he fought is still pouring it into glasses across the border. So tell me below was Shiv Chopra a hero, or just a troublemaker who got what was coming to him? Pick a side. Because someone in those meetings is still telling scientists to "just sign off."

[Datta Rangnekar]

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[Selvarajan Rajeshwaran]

And it is the milk powder and cheese made from this milk that USA is adamant on pushing down the throats of the Indian consumers and are moving heaven and earth for it. For them, there is nothing as ethics. India is too big a market for anything and everything, right from tea, , . . . .

But, will our policy makers protect us from this? We haven't for the last 60 + years, when we blindly accepted Bos tarus to be bred with Bos indicus, , that too indiscriminately against all genetics 101 that we have learnt for various reasons rightly or wrongly.

Best wishes.

Dr. S Rajeshwaran BVSc PGDRM PhD (IIMB)
Dr Waran's Livestock Management Consultancy

Bangalore
9483503392

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