Natural Health Product Protection Association (NHPPA) has over 15 years of experience advocating for freedom of choice and the protection of natural health products and practices in Canada.
Since its inception, NHPPA has been the leader in assessing and responding to threats facing the natural health industry in Canada. We have established a credible reputation through our expertise in this space and our demonstrated ability to run effective campaigns to engage stakeholders from all sectors to enact change.
NHPPA is leading a nationwide campaign to stop the Self-Care Framework, which when fully implemented, will result in the loss of most of our natural health products. Together, we can stop the Self-Care Framework!
We are leading a national campaign to stop Health Canada’s proposed changes to natural health product regulation and to protect your access to natural health products and the practitioners that use them.
We need your support to reach our goals!
Above all, we refuse to compromise on achieving our goals and will persevere until we are successful. We are not accepting Health Canada’s “non-negotiable” Self-Care Framework, we are not accepting Cost Recovery in any form, and we are not accepting a drug model that is designed to restrict access to natural health products that Canadians depend on.
We are in Health Canada’s end game, yet victory is within reach.
Bill C-47 is a Budget Bill officially named: “Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1”. Sections 500-504 of this Bill redefine natural health products (NHPs) and subject the entire industry to heightened regulation by moving them fully into the “therapeutic products” category, alongside chemical drugs.
On Friday, June 23, 2023, Bill C-47 passed third reading in the Senate, received royal assent the same day, and is now law. This Budget Bill contained several sections that will significantly limit the availability of natural health products in Canada.
Health Canada’s recent initiatives are on track to seriously dismantle the natural health landscape in Canada. These initiatives encompass the introduction of hefty fees, stringent demands for evidence not appropriate for NHPs, restrictions on labelling and the dissemination of truthful product information, and the inappropriate application of Vanessa’s Law to NHPs.
The implications of these actions are dire: NHP manufacturers and distributors facing closure, natural health stores unable to compete with U.S. price points, healthcare practitioners limited in their tools to practice due to fewer products on the Canadian market, and consumers facing reduced NHP access, hiked prices, and restriction in their freedom of choice in healthcare.
How NHPPA Is Pushing Back Against Sections 500-504 of Bill C-47
In late 2023, NHPPA President Shawn Buckley drafted a Private Members Bill to repeal sections 500-504 of Bill C-47. After consultation with Mr. Buckley, MP Blaine Calkins brought a Private Member’s Bill for the same purpose to the House of Commons on December 5, 2023. The Bill passed first reading and now named Bill C-368.
This action by MP Calkins effectively amplifies our voices, champions the cause for the natural health industry, and acts in the interests of every Canadian citizen who relies on natural health products to care for their health and well-being.
Learn more about Bill C-368 and how to support it
Health Canada has made it clear that once natural health products are regulated in the same ways as chemical non-prescription drugs under the Self-Care Framework, that natural health product companies will be charged fees for licensing (i.e. there will be “cost recovery”).
Shawn Buckley’s discussion paper from 2019 detailed what natural health product companies would have to pay once the Self-Care Framework is implemented. These are the fees Health Canada is moving toward implementing now.
Read the Discussion Paper and learn more about cost recovery
What is Health Canada’s proposed “Self-Care Framework” and why does it matter to Canadians?
As outlined in an NHPPA Discussion Paper on 2023 Health Canada Initiatives, with the upcoming changes to the regulation of natural health products, we can expect the following:
In Canada, we regulate natural health products (NHPs) under the “drug” arm of the Food and Drugs Act. This continues to lead to more and more restriction to Canadians’ access to NHPs.
We need the food-based model the U.S. has where NHPs are:
The Charter of Health Freedom is proposed legislation that gives natural health products and Traditional Medicines their own Act.
The Charter of Health Freedom offers an appropriate, healthy, beneficial, safe and well-rooted change for regulating the natural health community. Canadians are protected by permitting unsafe products to be removed while at the same time ensuring that safe and effective treatments remain available.
The Charter protects our access to natural health products and Traditional Medicines by creating separate legal category for them. Rather than being deemed as dangerous drugs under the Food and Drugs Act as they are now, under the Charter natural health products and Traditional Medicines are deemed to be safe, as they are in the United States.
Learn More About The Charter of Health Freedom
To be clear, the NHPPA is not against reasonable Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) or laws that prevent fraud and adulteration, in order to ensure the highest quality natural health products are on Canadian shelves.
The NHPPA is against the recent (2004) imposition of the chemical drug model on natural health products (NHPs). Under the chemical drug model, all natural health products are deemed to be unsafe and illegal. None can be sold without getting Health Canada’s permission in the form of a licence. Accepting the imposition of this drug model on natural health products has led to ever-stricter regulation and is behind the crisis the industry is currently facing.
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