MAY/JUNE 2009

Natural Health Product Regulation

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To address growing concerns about recalls and contaminated food warnings in 2007, the federal government announced that it would take steps to overhaul consumer protection legislation.

In April 2008, Bill C-51 was introduced to upgrade legislation governing food, consumer and health products that had been on the books since the 1950s and 1960s. The Bill has been designed to ensure that Canadians will continue to have access to natural health products that are safe, effective and of high quality. This Bill is meant to help ensure:
• that tainted products are found and recalled;
• that what is on the label is actually in the bottle;
• that health claims on packaging are supported by appropriate levels of evidence.

Natural Health Product Regulations came into force in 2004, which required products to be assessed by Health Canada before they hit store shelves. Once approved, they are assigned an eight-digit product licence number, preceded by the letters “NPN.” Labels on homeopathic medicines bear the designation DIN-HM.

Under the Natural Health Product Regulations, there is a five-tier level of scientific review that's required for natural health products, so in theory, the treatment of natural health products under Bill C-51 will not change.

Bill C-51 has raised some concerns in the terminology used however. For instance, the Bill describes a “practitioner” as “an individual who is authorized under the law of a province to prescribe or dispense prescription therapeutic products.”

Naturopathic doctors do not have prescribing rights. Naturopathic remedies are sold over the counter, without prescription. If natural health products were to become prescriptive products, Naturopaths would not have access to these products. There is a concern that if naturopathic doctors are no longer able to recommend certain products to their patients, those patients will no longer have access to those products as medical doctors may prefer to stick to traditional drug therapy.

In June 2008, the federal government announced proposed amendments to Bill C-51, such as defining Natural health products within the Act as a unique category apart from food and drugs to address this and some of the concerns raised.

We will be sure to keep you informed of any developments that come up with Bill C-51.

All in all though, regardless of whether or not this Bill gets passed, we always recommend that consumers read all product labels carefully so they are aware of what they are purchasing.

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