Can we really count on the government to tell us what's good for our health?

Canada tightens grip over the sale of natural health products in new provision

In Canada, Big Pharma is on track to becoming even more powerful.

This year, the Canadian Liberal government surreptitiously added a critical provision to the omnibus budget bill that would further dismantle the health care industry and limit Canadians’ access to essential health care products.

The bill, which passed on June 22, 2023, extends Vanessa’s Law (Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act) to natural health products. Vanessa’s Law—which gives more power to Health Canada to regulate health care products—previously only applied to pharmaceutical drugs (i.e., chemical drugs), including prescriptions, over-the-counter medication, and vaccines—until now.

With this change, natural health products (NHPs), which include supplements and vitamins, are now being lumped in the same category as pharmaceutical drugs.

The government can now mandate modifications to labels and packaging, recall products, and require additional studies and assessments of natural health products (NHPs).

Natural health product manufacturers can also be fined up to $5 million if authorities determine a health product poses certain health and safety risks. 

It’s a surprising move considering natural health products (NHPs) have already been regulated by Health Canada since 2004, and one that is expected to have devastating consequences on Canadians (who have no idea this amendment has passed) and manufacturers alike.

Critics say these new rules will likely increase the cost to manufacture natural health products and dissuade supplement manufacturers from operating in Canada. In turn, a number of supplements may no longer be available to Canadians, limiting Canadians’ access to certain health products. By removing access, Canadians may be at greater risk of developing serious health problems which will eventually require pharmaceutical drug intervention—a win for profit-driven medicine.

Health Canada says the new rules are needed to “improve the safety of therapeutic products including supplements and herbal remedies.” 

This justification is absurd on many levels. 

For one, no Canadian has ever died from a natural health product (since they started keeping track in the 1950s). In contrast, thousands of Canadians die each year from prescription drugs, though the exact number is not known because Health Canada conveniently fails to have a central repository where this information is collected (nor does it have an agreed upon standard on how and what data is collected in the first place). While every province as their own way of tracking prescription drug deaths, the methodologies differ, and there is great inconsistency in what is collected.

It’s common knowledge that prescription drugs pose a major health risk — some 200,000 people in Europe die every year from adverse reactions from prescription drugs and over 100,000 people die in the U.S. every year alone. 

You would think Health Canada would tighten up this process first before deciding to target natural health products, but evidently, this is hardly a concern for the agency as profit and control are the motivating factors in enforcing these changes, not health.

Health Canada routinely approves cancer-causing chemicals, including glyphosate, aspartame, and other products that they know poisons our bodies and the planet. Yet suddenly their focus is to reign in a completely different industry that is much smaller in scale, and that poses very little health risks to the consumer? Something’s not adding up.

About 70 precent of Canadians regularly use natural health products to maintain good health. We’re not talking about pseudoscientific products pushed by new age health grifters here. Natural health products include standard vitamins and minerals needed for good health, such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, B-12, Omega-3, etc. The availability of these critical supplements are essential for preventing illness and maintaining good health. When you remove access to these supplements, you are increasing the likelihood of deficiencies, illness, and disease in otherwise healthy Canadians.

Of course the Canadian Pharmacy Association (CPA) is absolutely giddy over these new provisions, claiming that these new rules will help Canadians make “better informed decisions” (the irony of this statement is not lost on me). 

This decision is reflective of a system where pharmaceutical drugs and invasive treatments are seen as the superior way of treating patients. There’s very little acknowledgement that natural health products play a critical role in preventing illness and maintaining optimal health. And now natural health product manufacturers and Canadians alike are being punished for a profit-driven industry that is seeking more ways to choke out the competition and leave Canadians behind.

By adding more barriers to access natural health products, this will inevitably have a domino effect on the health of Canadians, placing more of a burden on our already crumbling health care system—but surely, the government is well aware of this.

The Canadian government is once again treating Canadians as if we are incapable of making our own independent decisions over our health.

This new provision disproportionately punishes an industry that is focused on prevention and wellness. This is no accident. For whatever reason(s)—of which there are many theories—the Canadian government continues to pass legislation that further erodes the freedoms of Canadians and threatens the stability of our country. Many of us will not realize the impact of this until it is far too late.

-Rozali Telbis 

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