Canada’s C-51 Law To Outlaw 60% of Natural Health Products

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Don't Let Big Pharma Do This To Canada

A new law being pushed in Canada by Big Pharma seeks to outlaw up to 60 percent of natural health products currently sold in Canada, even while criminalizing parents who give herbs or supplements to their children. The law, known as C-51, was introduced by the Canadian Minister of Health on April 8th, 2008, and it proposes sweeping changes to Canada's Food and Drugs Act that could have devastating consequences on the health products industry.

Among the changes proposed by the bill are radical alterations to key terminology, including replacing the word "drug" with "therapeutic product" throughout the Act, thereby giving the Canadian government broad-reaching powers to regulate the sale of all herbs, vitamins, supplements and other items. With this single language change, anything that is "therapeutic" automatically falls under the Food and Drug Act. This would include bottled water, blueberries, dandelion greens and essentially all plant-derived substances.

The Act also changes the definition of the word "sell" to include anyone who gives such therapeutic products to someone else. So a mother giving an herb to her child, under the proposed new language, could be arrested for engaging in the sale of unregulated, unapproved "therapeutic substances." Learn about more of these freedom-squashing changes to the law at the Stop51.com website: http://www.stopc51.com

New enforcement powers allow Canadian government to seize your home or business

At the same time that C-51 is outlawing herbs, supplements and vitamins, it would grant alarming new "enforcement" powers to the thugs enforcement agents who claim to be "protecting" the public from dangerous unapproved "therapeutic agents" like, say, dandelion greens. As explained on the http://www.Educate-Yourself.orgwebsite ((http://educate-yourself.org/cn/canadian…), the C-51 law would allow the Canadian government's thugsenforcement agents to:

• Raid your home or business without a warrant

• Seize your bank accounts

• Levy fines up to $5 million and a jail terms up to 2 years for merely selling an herb

• Confiscate your property, then charge you storage fees for the expense involved in storing all the products they stole from you

C-51 would even criminalize the simple drying of herbs in your kitchen to be used in an herbal product, by the way. That would now be categorized as a "controlled activity," and anyone caught engaging in such "controlled activities" would be arrested, fined and potentially jailed. Other "controlled activities" include labeling bottles, harvesting plants on a farm, collecting herbs from your back yard, or even testing herbal products on yourself! (Yes, virtually every activity involving herbs or supplements would be criminalized…)

There's more, too. C-51 is the Canadian government's "final solution" for the health products industry. It's a desperate effort to destroy this industry that's threatening the profits and viability of conventional medicine.

Natural medicine works so well—and is becoming so widely used—that both the Canadian and American governments have decided to "nuke" the industries by passing new laws that effectively criminalize anyone selling such products. They simply cannot tolerate allowing consumers to have continued access to natural products. To do so will ultimately spell the destruction of Big Pharma and the outdated, corrupt and criminally-operated pharmaceutical industry that these criminally-operated governments are trying to protect.

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/0...ealth-products/

[mawilson 2,133]

Natural medicine works so well—and is becoming so widely used—that both the Canadian and American governments have decided to "nuke" the industries by passing new laws that effectively criminalize anyone selling such products.

I thought it was a Canadian law?

[Peikko 1,575]

I don't expect the reality is anywhere nearly as alarming as this report makes it out to be...I would have to do some research to be sure, but the invective against the Canadian gov is somewhat suspicious, I mean, who compares a law to curb unrestricted distribution of herbal remedies to the Nazis pogrom of extermination?

[mawilson 2,133]

I don't expect the reality is anywhere nearly as alarming as this report makes it out to be...I would have to do some research to be sure, but the invective against the Canadian gov is somewhat suspicious, I mean, who compares a law to curb unrestricted distribution of herbal remedies to the Nazis pogrom of extermination?

Have you noticed that most (if not all) herbal supplements have a disclaimer:

"This product has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

I guess the industry has grown so much, they finally want to regulate it (which is not necessarily a bad thing.)

[Peikko 1,575]

I can imagine that the idea behind the legislation was to curb the proliferation and sale of 'miracle' tonics and treatments that are sold for outrageous sums but have no discernible benefit and might even be dangerous or at least hazardous in the doses that some people take them - the quackery of herbal medicine. Also, I expect there are discrepancies in the production and quality of many of these concoctions. As these items are ingested it seems reasonable that consumers should have a right to expect some kind of regulation of content and manufacture where currently there is none. However, legislation can be clumsy and some perfectly helpful and or benign herbal remedies will get caught in the crossfire, not least because regulation requires a cost to implement and supervise.

[GaryC 7]

But But But But But But....... I thought Canada had such a wonderful socialized health care system that put those nasty drug companies in their places? How can this be???

[Peikko 1,575]

Gary, 2+2 do not make 1042.

[HAL 9000 96]

But But But But But But....... I thought Canada had such a wonderful socialized health care system that put those nasty drug companies in their places? How can this be???

Maybe because their health care system covers traditional synthetic drugs that are approved and regulated, not "natural remedies." Nevertheless, Canada is also a free market society and that means drug companies can try to lobby all they can. Maybe not as much as here, but they can.

The difference is quite large- and yes, many of these natural products need to be regulated pending further clinical validation to rule out potential side effects and dangerous interactions not commonly associated with single courses of treatment. This does not rule out the need to keep the availability of the natural products that are shown to not be hazardous to human health.

[Ban Hammer 13,682]

But But But But But But....... I thought Canada had such a wonderful socialized health care system that put those nasty drug companies in their places? How can this be???

[HAL 9000 96]

We in the States are also allowed to regulate the price of pharmaceuticals as they do in Canada. I guess the difference is that they don't get as much lobbying efficiency up there as much as here.

[Peikko 1,575]

Seriously, how can anyone draw a conclusion about social health care in Canada based on this article?

Of course, cheap jokes are just cheap jokes.