Country Focus
Biotechnology in Canada
In the biotechnology arena, Canada can hold its head high. The biomedical research that is taking place in the country has an excellent reputation, which has brought many new foundings and has attracted a large number of large pharma concerns. On top of this, Canada is ranked top in biotechnological applications in agriculture, and in 1996, alongside the USA, the first large-surface cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants for commercial purposes took place in Canada. Today, with more than six million hectares, Canada is in global fourth place, and is the top cultivating country for GM rapeseed.
Legal Foundations
As far as legal foundations are concerned, biotechnological research in Canada and its practical application is able to enjoy broadly liberal conditions.
Up to 2002, there were no legal regulations for stem cell research. However, this situation changed with the Assisted Human Reproduction Act as well as with the Canadian Institute of Health’s guidelines for stem cell research. Since then, work involving embryonic stem cells is permitted and therapeutic cloning is forbidden, as is the production of embryos for scientific purposes alone. Each funding request involving stem cells in the framework of the CIHR, as well as through other support mechanisms, must be examined from an ethical perspective by the Stem Cell Oversight Committee (SCOC). However, in recent years, Canadian scientists - also in the framework of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto – have repeatedly pushed for wider consent, in particular for therapeutic cloning. To date, their requests have not met with success.
On the other hand, legislators gave the green light very early on for the commercial cultivation of GM plants and the use of biotechnological applications in agriculture. Alongside the USA, the first large-scale commercial cultivation took place as early as 1996. Today, Canada is only behind the USA, Brazil and Argentina in the global tables of agricultural area dedicated to GM cultivation. According to data from the "International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications" (ISAAA), a total of 6.1 million hectares of GM plants were cultivated in 2006. In the meantime, Canada are the largest cultivators of GM rapeseed, and GM corn and GM soya are also cultivated on a big scale. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, responsible for safety evaluations and approval of new types of plants, is a significant institution in the sector. Beyond this, there are a number of initiatives that are responsible for the long-term observation of GM cultivation. Of these, the Ecosystem Effects of Novel Living Organisms program (EENLO) is the most well known.
Comprehensive information about the legal regulations for Agrobiotechnology can be found here.