A Call to Action

“Make sure your political leaders know that you want the freedom to access natural health products and vote accordingly – it is your right to choose how you protect your health.”

The most important federal election in Canada’s history will be on April 28th to elect our new governing party. I know they would have you believe that the election is about protection from Trump – that is not the case. It is a diversion. Our newly elected leader will come to an agreement with Trump, if that is their goal, and Canada will fair just fine.

One thing that most Canadians have overlooked in this election is having continued access to natural health products, something that 72% of the Canadian population rely on for remaining healthy. The Federal government, in conjunction with Health Canada, have passed a bill that will severely devastate the natural health industry as we know it by eliminating the access to natural health products and regulating natural health products like they were pharmaceutical drugs.

Politicians have a habit of listening to their constituents needs every four (or so) years while seeking re-election. Now is when we need to make protecting natural health products a key election issue. This is an appeal to all parties. Canadians have spoken, sending over one million post cards to all MP’s and Cabinet members. They are very aware.

What the Government Has Done to Weaponize Vanessa’s Law Against Natural Health Products (Excerpt taken from Bill C-47: Weaponizing Vanessa’s Law. Published August, 2, 2023, by Eldon Dahl, DNM.)

Vanessa’s Law made sure that “natural health products as defined by Health Canada were excluded, Vanessa’s Law was to apply to almost all other therapeutic products including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, vaccines, gene therapies, cells, tissues and organs, and medical devices.”[1]

What Health Canada did within Bill C-47 was weaponize Vanessa’s Law; Mr. Young, MP, Vanessa’s father, never intended the Bill to capture natural health products within its net, it was done in the dark to control the natural health industry, hidden within the Federal Budget and Federal Budgets always get approved. The Bill was never debated in the House of Commons, it was introduced just before the House went on vacation, it was fast tracked and approved in the Senate and the same day received Royal Assent. This Bill was a covert operation to control and restrict access to natural health products with the emphasis placed on therapeutic products. Part of the Bill “would amend the definition of therapeutic product in the Food and Drugs Act (FDA) to remove the existing exemption for natural health products within the meaning of the Natural Health Products Regulations. The result would be that the existing provisions of the FDA dealing with therapeutic products would now equally apply to natural health products.”[2]

If everything goes according to their plan, Health Canada will regulate everything thanks to Bill C-47: they will be able to recall products, require labelling and packaging modifications, disclose confidential business information, increase fines and penalties and do so much more in the name of “safeguarding public health”. Why do they want more regulations? We already have most these matters under control with licensed NHP but we do not have the fees and cost recovery. Natural health products are not patented like drugs, once a NHP is licensed any supplier can copy their formulation, there is no time to recover one’s investment like the drug industry does.

Health Canada Proposes Cost Recovery Fees for Natural Health Products

Now Health Canada wants to introduce cost recovery fees for Natural Health Product (NHP) regulatory activities in Canada from 2025. Their proposal will introduce fees to the NHP industry, which will be similar to those in place for the human drug, veterinary drug, and medical device industries, with fee categories including pre-market evaluation, NHP site licenses and NHP right to sell. Today there is no cost but under Bill C-47 the cost will be $60K for a Novel Class 111 license with no patent protection! Also, charging a company for the right to sell a product they make, is a real crowd pleaser. What other Canadian industry pays the government for the right to sell what they make for the Canadian market, and we are not talking taxes?

Under Bill C-47 drug like penalties are being introduced for natural health products; again, this is weaponizing Venessa’s Law. They will take the 3rd leading cause of death, properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs, and group them together with ultra-safe natural health products. You have a greater risk of dying by being struck by lightning than dying from a natural health product. Now hospitals will be put on notice to report any side effects from taking vitamins, even though they may be from something else. Under the current plan, the penalty for a product violation is $5,000 per incident, under Venessa’s Law the penalty is 5 million per day and per company director, virtually bankrupting the company from a single act.

Bill C-47 tightly controls and limits the sales of licensed Canadian natural health products while exposing the Canadian public to online ordering from the likes of Amazon selling unregulated and unlicensed natural health products from the USA with no quality control, no added fees and absolutely no safety measures in place. These are the products that people may have side effects from and yet the products that will take the full weight of the penalties will be the safe and effective licensed natural health being sold in Canada.

These major regulatory changes to NHPs are not only making it hard for the industry to continue growing and producing novel products but places a huge financial burden on the manufacturing companies, many of the small to medium companies will either consider leaving Canada or they will remove many of their products from the market. This way employment will suffer and many people will lose their jobs. On the other hand, people taking natural health products will also suffer when losing their right to prevent illnesses, suffering, or in promoting wellness and health. We need a call to action; a public uprising like it was done in the past attempts. Meet with your member of parliament and voice your concerns, fill out the Endangered Species card and discuss the matter with family and friends, and repeal Bill C-47 from item 500 to 504.

If left to their own devices, our government would see fit to prescribe only one solution to health matters  ̶  theirs. Where do you think that direction and guidance would be coming from in this age of globalization? If you guessed the World Health Organization, you would be correct. There is an undeniable push going on to globalize health directives and make them matters and orders capable of directing or overriding policy in sovereign countries (investigate the “One Health” initiative implemented by the WHO). While their solutions may not make anyone healthier, they sure do make a lot of money selling their mandated cures. Really, it is a great business model – mandate that all customers take only your product and outlaw, defame and demonize all alternatives.

Freedom of choice when it comes to personal health modality is an essential element of a free society. Make sure your political leaders know that you want the freedom to access natural health products and vote accordingly – it is your right to choose how you protect your health. It is up to us as citizens to demand that this freedom is protected and hold our leadership accountable to their commitments.

 

A Video Message for Canadians

References:

 

[1] Saleh, Yazan. 2016.

[2] N.a. 2023.