Canada's Bill C-51
An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act and
to make consequential amendments to other Acts
Proposed legislation currently before Parliament
could potentially have a major impact on natural health in Canada
and restrict the choices Canadian people have when it comes to
health products.
Member bulletin summarizing Bill C51 from the Canadian Health Food Association:
WHAT IS BILL C-51? THE FACTS
• FACT: Legislation tabled April 8 , 2008 by the federal
government that proposes amendments to the Food & Drugs Act
• FACT: Potential significant negative impact on the natural
health products and foods industries. Currently, it does not
affect the implementation or enforcement of the NHP Regulations
• FACT: Proposes new increased enforcement powers, increased
penalties
to all sectors of the industry including retailers
• FACT: Redefines natural health products, medical devices and
cells, tissues & organs as "therapeutic products"
• FACT: The current Bill does NOT remove products from your
shelves
• FACT: We have to work together for change NOW; we need a
SEPARATE Category for Natural Health Products
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
• A third category, as promised in the 1998 Standing
Committee on Health's Report, is critical at this time
• We want our products to stay on store shelves; we need to work
together
• Bill C-51 pushes natural health products closer to the
pharmaceutical model
• Potential for limited product availability due to increased
powers for inspectors to enforce the regulations and achieve
compliance
• Increased penalties for non-compliance; monetary penalties are
the same whether you are a small retail operation or a large
multi-national
• There are many potential negative issues around Bill C-51; we
need a clear understanding oaf the implications to our industry.
What the Act does: the Act gives broad power
and responsibility to Health Canada inspectors to force
“regulated persons” to take whatever measures the inspectors
deem necessary to ensure safety. I am troubled by this due to
the following scenario developing:
1) currently roughly 60% of natural health product license
applications are failing. The majority of these license
applications are for single ingredient products which are easier
to licence then multi-ingredient products. The percentage of
failed license applications is expected to increase as more
multi-ingredient product license applications are considered. My
estimate is an overall failure rate of 70%. This means that over
60% of the natural health products on the market will fail the
licensing process and will become illegal. At that point the
manufacturer can wilfully withdraw them from the market or
Health Canada can take enforcement action;
2) the NHPD has been given more resources to process license
applications which means that the majority of the products will
become illegal sooner rather than later;
3) Health Canada is currently going to universities to
recruit university graduates as inspectors because Health Canada
anticipates an increased need for enforcement, and
4) Bill C-51 gives inspectors new powers to force products
off of the market.
Wikipedia information on Bill C-51
or
goto vote page
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