In a statement issued in April, Consumer Health Products Canada (CHP Canada) has called for Health Canada to ensure full enforcement of the Natural Health Products Regulations.
The statement cites a recent survey by Health Canada that indicates a decline in consumer confidence in natural health products. Results showed increasing skepticism about health claims made and decreasing confidence in the safety of NHPs due to their natural origins.
It indicates a drop in the number of people who agree that natural health products can be effectively used to maintain or promote health. In 2005, the per cent of people who agreed was 77%. In 2010, this number came down to 71%. 42% of Canadians indicated that they question the quality of natural health products. Health Canada also reflected badly in the polls with 52% of Canadians saying that it does a bad job of informing Canadians of NHPs.
Health Canada has been tracking the opinion of Canadians regarding natural health products ever since the NHPD came into existence in 2004.
As per CHP Canada, full enforcement of the regulations has not yet come in effect due to opposition from the NHP industry, which claims that the review process at the NHPD is very cumbersome, and that the regulations must not be as strict because NHPs are, after all, not pharmaceutical drugs.
Others say that the current NHP rules are much too laxlenient and allow natural health products to make claims of preventing serious diseases and conditions such as heart disease and cancer, and also allow for unlicensed and non-compliant products to be sold, effectively diminishing the consumer’s confidence.
It is the CHP’s stand that full enforcement of regulations must come into effect as soon as possible. As of now the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities has also taken the position that pharmacies should only sell products that comply with Health Canada regulations.
References:
News Release: Consumer Health Products Canada
http://www.chpcanada.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.dspFile&FileID=194
Confidence in natural health claims in decline: Survey, Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News,
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Confidence+natural+health+claims+decline+survey/4603371/story.html