Update: Save Our Supplements Campaign

You may be wondering what is happening with the future of Natural Health Products (NHPs) in Canada and the Save Our Supplements campaign. Although the Canadian government is currently prorogued, there are still some actions we can take to have our voices heard in the fight to protect NHPs!

NHPs have been facing real and impending changes to their classification and regulation that have been done without consultation with the industry and are going to have trickle down effects that will impact you, the consumer. Under Bill C-47, NHPs were redefined as therapeutic products, subjecting them to stricter regulations under Vanessa’s Law. NHPs are now regulated the same as prescription and over-the-counter medications! Following this new classification Health Canada is planning to impose new labelling requirements on NHPs that will make labels even harder to read, burden the environment and will increase costs to manufacturers and consumers. They will also be imposing a Cost Recovery program to pay for the new regulations that will include fees for product evaluation, site licenses and annual renewal fees. These fees will certainly be felt by consumers. The timing of implementing this program at the same time as new labelling requirements will financially decimate companies in the industry, making it extremely challenging for them to stay viable.

NHPs in Canada have some of the strictest regulations in the world. The industry itself believes in the importance of regulation and providing Canadians with safe and, effective NHPs and, prior to this we already had a regulatory system in place.

On a more positive note, Bill C-368 is a private member’s bill that aims to amend the Food and Drugs Act to ensure NHPs are not classified as therapeutic products. The goal of this bill is to have NHPs regulated on their own to protect their availability and affordability by preventing them from being subject to overly stringent regulations. This bill, although now on pause, has continued to progress through the legislative process and is now moving to the third reading in the House of Commons. It is likely that the progress with this bill will not be lost when parliamentary activities resume due to how far it has made it through the legislative process.

While the future of NHPs in Canada hangs in the balance and we wait for parliament activities to resume, we can still have our voices heard. The Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) has been advocating for the industry since news of these changes emerged 2 years ago, they have hired lawyers, promoted our petitions, launched the Save Our Supplements campaign, and spent many days in Ottawa talking to our government officials. They have also just released a new pre-populated letter you can send to your MP to voice your concern about the future of NHPs, you can find it along with more information on their campaign here. It only takes a few minutes to fill out!

You can rest assured knowing many people are working behind the scenes tirelessly to protect your access to affordable, safe and effective NHPs. There is still a lot of work to do but a lot of progress has been made! As we find out more information regarding Bill C-368 and possible changes to NHPs we promise to keep you informed!