NHPPA President Shawn Buckley’s brief on Health Canada’s proposed Natural Health Product Compounding and Raw Materials Policies argues that the policies exceed the federal government’s legal authority by interfering with the practice of medicine, which falls under provincial jurisdiction. The law only requires that an ingredient be a natural health product and that it be used for compounding, yet Health Canada is attempting to impose additional conditions that are not authorized by legislation.
The NHPPA warns that these policies would make it more difficult for practitioners to prepare individualized natural health products for their patients, ultimately restricting access to care. The brief calls on Health Canada to abandon the proposed policies and respect the constitutional limits of its authority, allowing healthcare decisions to remain where they belong—with practitioners and their patients.
Homeopathic practitioners in Canada face increasing regulatory pressure that threatens patient access to care. In the first seminar of the new NHPPA Homeopathic Network series, NHPPA President Shawn Buckley is joined by an expert panel for a timely discussion on the challenges facing the profession.
You play a vital role in keeping Canadians healthy, and it’s essential that you can continue to do so, without interruption. We urgently need your support to protect the natural health industry, including your profession, in the face of Health Canada’s Self-Care Framework and Cost Recovery initiatives.
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Health Canada is imposing stricter regulations and new fees on natural health product (NHP) manufacturers which will increase prices and cause the loss of products because manufacturers will be unable or unwilling to afford licensing.
If NHPs are unable to rely on traditional use evidence in the licensing process, we will lose products. For example, “ginger is traditionally used to treat nausea” would no longer be an acceptable label claim under Health Canada’s Self-Care Framework.
Under Health Canada’s Self-Care Framework, label claims for NHPs are restricted to conditions for which you would not seek the advice of a health care practitioner licensed by the province. That means NHPs could no longer be licensed for many of the ailments your customers currently choose to manage naturally.
These fines can be imposed for violating the laws on NHPs (such as communicating product uses outside of the label claims). Prior to June 22, 2023, the maximum fine you faced for violating the laws on NHPs was $5,000. Now it is $5,000,000 a day. These fines apply to all directors and employees within NHP businesses, whereas they used to only apply to corporations. How could any of us withstand $5,000,000 per day fines?
If you or your staff make any health claim about a product outside of the Health-Canada-approved label claims, even if you know it to be true, you and your employees could face a $5,000,000 per day fine. It’s very difficult to sell a product if you can’t tell the customer all the potential uses and benefits. How will this affect your sales?