Bill C-51, which would ammend the existing Food and Drugs Act, and lead to greater regulatory scrutiny of natural health products (NHPs), is being protested, across the country, by natural health practitioners, consumers and NHP manufacturers and distributors, in fear that it will result in greatly restricted access to NHPs. 

The bill was given its second reading on April 28, 2008 - it's first reading had been on April 8, raising questions as to why the Canadian  government is fast-tracking its progress through parliament.

Although supporters of the bill state that the proposed amendments are meant to protect Canadians by ensuring that all NHPs are subjected to standardized and rigorous government regulation procedures, its critics, a fast-rising contingent, point out that the bill will;

1)  cause up to 60 per cent of currently available NHPs to be pulled off the shelves,
2)  allow the government to designate many NHPs as prescription drugs, thus making them available by prescription only,
3)  introduce inappropriate rules for inspection and seizure of NHPs, putting the power to recommend and enforce modifications into the hands of dubious authority,  and
4)  bypass elected officials to vote in laws and allow bureaucrats to adopt laws from other countries without consent.

Various lobby groups and commentators have spoken out via websites, blogs, letters and protest marches to delay the passage of the bill, in hopes that the recommendations for NHPs will be given more consideration.  The Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) has proposed that NHPs be removed from their current ‘therapeutic products” category – where they are currently grouped with pharmaceutical drugs – into a category of their own, and regulated accordingly. 

"What is needed now is a separate category that ensures the more than 75 per cent of Canadians, who have ever used NHPs to achieve optimal health and well-being, continue to have access and choice," says CHFA president, Penelope Marrett.

Shawn Buckley, president of the Natural Health Products Protection Association, has drafted a discussion paper outlining the potential detrimental effects that Bill C-51 could have on the NHP industry, as well as compromising their availability to consumers in Canada.  The paper - which is diligent in distinguishing NHPs as low risk, versus the high risk profile classification to which pharmaceutical drugs belong -  outlines the significance of all the amendments from a legal standpoint, including their implications for natural health practitioners who give NHPs to their patients.  Buckley’s full discussion paper can be read at http://www.stopc51.com/c51/legal_review.pdf     

Natural health practitioners are networking to ensure that their colleagues have read  Bill C-51 (http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=3398126&file=4)  and familiarized themselves with its recommendations for manufacturing, prescribing, selling and obtaining NHPs in Canada.  All who would like to see passage of the bill delayed, until further consideration is given to the proposed amendments regarding NHPs, are encouraged to write to local MPs or sign a petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/StopC51 .