POSTMEDIA AND TIMES COLONIST
A proposed law, which could be approved by
month’s end, bans in certain circumstances public disclosure of the location of
an agriculture-related disease outbreak.
Critics say the Animal Health Act could
result in a delay in public warning of a disease outbreak at a farm to protect
the financial interests of a business or industry.
Agriculture Ministry employees, animal-health
inspectors and laboratory employees are specifically barred from prematurely
disclosing information about farm-disease outbreaks.
It’s information that doesn’t need to be
protected and should be accessible to the public, said Lana Popham, NDP MLA for
Saanich South.
The argument for the provision is that
information about a disease outbreak becoming public could potentially damage a
business, Popham said.
“My argument against that is it’s our food
system and I believe consumers have the right to know what’s going on.”
Popham said it’s not different from how local
health authorities deal with restaurants inspections. “They post those publicly
on a website with the name of the business and whether or not the health
inspection passed or failed. I think that’s a very similar circumstance and I’m
not sure why this is any different.”
In a letter to provincial Agriculture
Minister Don McRae, B.C. information and privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham
asked that a section overriding the Freedom of Information and Protect of
Privacy Act be removed.
Denham said it’s extremely rare for a law to
override freedom of information legislation.
The Animal Health Act removes “the public’s
right to access various records regarding animal testing, including actions and
reports relating to animal-disease management,” Denham wrote.
The Animal Health Act lays out a punishment
regime with penalties of up to $75,000 in fines and two years in prison.
The offence of failing to keep information
confidential falls among the violations drawing the highest penalties.
In defending the proposed legislation, the
Agriculture Ministry has said that it will help to prevent the publicizing of
inaccurate information, and encourage farmers to report a disease outbreak to
the ministry instead of trying to hide it.
The provincial health officer would retain
the authority to publicly report about animal diseases in a general area.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
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