By Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD, DNM

If I told you that your favourite natural remedies for sleep, digestion, energy, and pain relief were about to go the way of the dinosaur, you probably wouldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, it’s true. Thanks to recent legislative changes in Canada, these remedies and many other herbal medicines, probiotics, nutrients, and other natural health products are about to go missing from store shelves and from the Canadian natural health products marketplace entirely. The industry risks decimation.

And, if the loss of critical natural health products (NHPs) wasn’t enough, many natural health product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and natural health practitioners like herbalists, homeopaths, naturopathic doctors, nutritionists, may also go out of business as they lack the tools to achieve effective health outcomes for patients and face massive financial risk as well. 

How Could This Happen in Canada?

Health Canada is currently implementing its “Self-care Framework.” It sounds like a spa treatment, but don’t be fooled: It’s anything but good for your health, and it is going to hurt. This erroneously-named initiative claims to “harmonize” the regulation of natural health products with that of pharmaceutical drugs. But, natural health products are nothing like synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. Natural health products have a safe history of use extending back thousands of years in many cases, while most pharmaceutical drugs have pages-long lists of side effects that often include the risk of death. 

Buried in the June 2023 Budget Bill, “Health Canada quietly added a new definition of a ‘therapeutic product’ into the federal government budget, without proper public vetting, granting themselves sweeping and excessive controls over natural health products (NHPs) and treating them like drugs,” says Shawn Buckley, lawyer and president of the Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA). Buckley has been personally conducting legal advocacy for NHPs in Canada for thirty years. 

As a result, natural health products (NHPs) are currently being regulated like drugs, although they lack the safety concerns of drugs. And, the businesses manufacturing them lack the massive budgets of pharmaceutical companies or the patent protections granted to drug companies that allow them to reap huge profits from their drugs for two decades prior to competing interests entering the marketplace. 

With pharmaceutical-style regulations now applying to the natural health product industry, it means that health food stores, natural health product manufacturers, and even natural health practitioners will be subject to many new fees, fines, and unchecked government powers to seize products, raid stores, or censor claims or product uses. These changes should have been properly reviewed, assessed, and vetted.

Natural health businesses now face fines of up to $5 million per day—penalties that are financially devastating and unsustainable. For instance, if a retailer suggests a use for a product that goes beyond Health Canada’s approved label claims, even if the use is supported by plentiful amounts of scientific evidence, they risk incurring these severe fines. And, Health Canada’s list of “approved claims” is notorious for not keeping up with the scientific evidence. 

Consider magnesium as an example: Health Canada may have only approved the claim: “a factor in the maintenance of good health.” But, if a retailer responds to the request for a supplement that might help a customer prevent migraines by recommending magnesium, a use that is backed by scientific evidence, they could be subjected to these overwhelming penalties that would undoubtedly result in the demise of most businesses in Canada.

Health Canada cites “safety” as their rationale for the changes, but that’s simply not the case. There was already a comprehensive body of laws collectively known as the Natural Health Product Regulations that were passed under the Food and Drug Act. These regulations governed, and continue to govern, the safety of natural health products in an appropriate manner for the lower-risk nature of these products. 

What Health Canada’s Plan Means for You

If natural health products continue on their current trajectory:

1. You’ll lose many natural products that you rely on to manage your health.
2. Prices of the remaining products will continue to increase as manufacturers face increased licensing fees and fines.
3. Your natural health practitioners may be forced out of practice, as they will no longer have access to the natural health products that are essential tools in supporting their clients and patients.
4. Many retailers, manufacturers, and natural health practitioners will lose their livelihoods or jobs.
5. There will be additional strain on the medical system.

Simple Ways You Can Make a Difference

The Natural Health Product Protection Association (NHPPA) is a federally incorporated Canadian not-for-profit organization that has been advocating for the protection of natural health products and dietary supplements since 2008. We’ve been working hard for over 15 years with many wins, but we need your help to avoid the devastating trajectory described above. 

Please help prevent natural health products from going extinct. It takes only a few minutes to make a huge difference. Here are 5 ways you can help:

1. Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter so you don’t miss any critical updates. nhppa.org/subscribe 
2. Donate to help us help you protect your access to natural health products. nhppa.org/donate
3. Follow us on social media and share our posts with everyone you know. nhppa.org/socials
4. Sign the Charter of Health Freedom, which is the solution to protect your access to natural health products, permanently charterofhealthfreedom.org
5. Engage with your federal MP today by sending them an electronic letter opposing the Self-care Framework (don’t worry, we’ve written the letter for you, and it takes less than one minute to submit). nhppa.org/bill-C368/#send 

Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD, DNM, is an international bestselling, award-winning, and 25-time book author and strategic communications consultant to the Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA). nhppa.org