Grant Hill, a medical doctor from Alberta is the Reform Party's health critic. So far he has remained rather quiet in his opposition to Canada's new Office of Natural Health Products (ONHP). But, now he's really gone out on a limb with this article.
A new Bureacracy to
Police Natural Health
by Grant Hill, MD
Health Minister Allan Rock's announcement of a new Office of Natural Health Products (ONHP) represents an unfortunate blow to consumer's freedom of choice.
I would not be so disappointed if the new changes meant that safe, harmless natural substances that have been banned would now return to the market. but what will have changed?
With the new system, manufacturers and importers of currently restricted substances will still have to go through bureaucratic approval processes. They will still have to spend thousands of dollars to apply for product numbers and establishment of license fees as well as overcome countless other bureaucratic hoops and hurdles.
The only difference is that it will not be the Health Protection Branch's (HPB) Drugs Directorate that does the regulating. Instead, there will be a new so-called experts in the ONHP who will push the paper and levy fees. A bird with a different name, but the same quack!
This new regulatory structure is a classic example of Allan Rock - a big government Liberal - solving a problem the only way he knows how: more government, more regulations, more money for Ottawa; less freedom, less choice for Canadian consumers.
If a substance is not harmful in its dosage from when used as recommended, then the best expert on the substance is you. if a product is harmful, then by all means, strictly regulate it or take it off the shelves. But, out of the many valued natural health products that Ottawa has taken away, hs Ottawa ever shown that any of them are harmful? No.
This principle - if unsafe, regulate; if no harm, don't alarm - is at the centre of my criticism and proposals for regulating natural health products. In fact my private members's bill, C-307, (the Health Freedom Amendment), would totally revolutionize the way substances are regulated in Canada.
And yet I am by no means advocating a return to a 'buyer beware' kind of marketplace. Indeed if a substance poses any threat whatsoever to human health, it must be strictly regulated. At present, C-307 is waiting to be drawn amongst other private members' bills for the important Second Reading stage.
And so we must continue to fight. Mr. Rock's ONHP surely does not represent more freedom, but less. A well informed consumer will always be a better judge of what is best for them and their loved ones than some distant bureacrat in Ottawa.
Grant Hill links
- Feds must prove herbal remedies unsafe: Reform MD - Medical Post - Dec. 16, 1997
Health Canada should be required to produce scientific proof that a nutritional supplement or herbal remedy is harmful before ordering it banned from the Canadian market, said the Reform party's health critic. - Reform Party of Canada
- E-mail address: hillg@reform.ca
Health Naturally
BANNED IN CANADA
The inside front cover of same issue contains advertisement for a company called Freedom Supplements.Here is the text of that advertisement:
Health Canada has made it illegal for the following products to be sold in Canadian stores; however, all are 100% legal in the U.S. As a private citizen, you can import them for your personal use. They are only a toll-free phone call away. VISA and MasterCard accepted. All products are manufactured to exacting standards. Labels include guidelines for safe and effective use. Prices are in Canadian dollars.:
The bulk of the ad lists various amino acids, herbs and supplements, including melatonin, chromium picolinate, and tryptophan. One of the ephedra products is a 130 mg. capsule.
Profits from the sale of these products are being used to finance legal action to compel Health Canada to fully restore your freedom to choose.
It's interesting that this large advertisement contains no legal description of the vendor, just a toll free number. We wonder who is behind this company, i.e. is it Canadian owned?