Auditor General Confirms

OTTAWA--"The Auditor General today confirmed that the military brass fraudulently obtained and illegally administered the antimalarial drug mefloquine while the Health Protection Branch, the government's drug regulator, ignored the problem and licensed the drug without Canadian safety data," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta South Richmond).

The Auditor General had been requested by Cummins to undertake the audit in November 1997.

"The military and the Health Protection Branch, in their responses to the Auditor General's findings, refused to acknowledge there was a problem or to accept blame for the health problems encountered by soldiers forced to take the unlicensed drug."

"But their denial is not new. The military now acknowledge that the Somalia Inquiry was misled on mefloquine but at the same time deny they intended to mislead the Inquiry. Similarly the Health Protection Branch although fully aware of the problem chose to allow the Inquiry to be mislead. If the Health Protection Branch had told the truth it would have been obliged to admit its own culpability."

Until now both the Ministers of Health and Defence have maintained in Parliament that the military; the manufacturer; and the Health Protection Branch had met their obligations under the Food and Drug Act. The Auditor General's report puts the lie to their parliamentary statements.

An internal military report refers to the attempted suicide of Clayton Matchee as mefloquine-related and both Canadian and UN investigations into the suicide of Scott Smith reveal that mefloquine was a contributing factor in his death.