I was very impressed by the article in AIM’s May/June 2008 “Living Well” Magazine on pages 6 and 7 “Heath Canada and their Trojan Horse” written by lawyer Shawn Buckley.

I thought I’d just highlight a few points that I was particularly struck by.

Has the Natural Health Product industry been duped by Health Canada?

In the 1990’s Health Canada began taking aim at Natural Health Products.  Fees were then imposed on the industry and consumers started noticing that products were disappearing from the shelves and took action, with a large petition drive.  They wanted to protect their access to NHPs and they challenged the fee regulations in court.  Regulations were withdrawn, and the Minister of Health agreed to consult on the issues.

The Standing Committee of Health went through an in-depth public consultation and came out with 53 recommendations, recognizing that the main concern of consumers was to protect their access to NHPs.

Instead of implementing those recommendations, Health Canada set up their own “expert” panels to do their own consultations, asking Canadians questions such as “Do you want accurate labels?” And “Do you want good manufacturing processes?” These are questions that no level-headed person could say “no” to.

The entire industry already has an amazing track record for safety. Many of these products deliver real health benefits, which would be lost if those products were no longer available.

A client of Shawn Buckley’s commissioned an expert report analyzing the relative risks NHPs posed, based on Canadian government statistics.  The finding was that the average Canadian is more likely to be injured by lightning than by a Natural Health Product.

In my opinion, we maintain good health with our own financial resources by using these natural health products, and thereby cut down on the amount of money the government has to pay out for health care, so that should be a point in our favour.