The Department of Health is failing to enforce federal laws on natural health products, auditors said..The examination by the by the Commissioner of the Environment noted the Department of Health rarely conducted spot inspections of wholesalers, failed to check that products weren’t contaminated and fell short of ensuring products are safe and effective, according to a Blacklock’s Reporter story..“This finding matters because Health Canada is responsible,” said the audit report Natural Health Products. The department did not dispute the findings, but said in a statement it had “one of the best regulatory systems in the world.”.In 2004, Cabinet introduced Natural Health Products Regulations that gave less rigorous monitoring of goods — like vitamins, Chinese medicine and homeopathic treatments — than pharmaceutical drugs. Amendments to the Food And Drugs Act in 2014 to curb unsafe medicines excluded natural products..“To be frank I struggled with this one,” then-Health Minister Rona Ambrose said at the time. “I thought everyone should be under the same legislation, but the reality is – and the case was made from the natural health products community – that their products are low risk.”.Yesterday’s audit report noted since 2004, more than 91,000 natural health products have been licensed without “routine inspections” of wholesalers..“The department also did not monitor product label information,” wrote staff..Auditors found of 75 products examined at random, a majority were sold with false health claims such as weight loss or treatment of fatigue, and had inaccurate labels..“We found 88 % of these products were advertised with misleading product information,” said Health Products. “Also 56 % of the products we examined were marketed with misleading label information.”.Of 25 licensed wholesalers audited at random, nearly half had never seen been visited bu a federal inspector. The health department also failed to check product safety after licensed goods were sold to consumers, wrote staff..“Health Canada left natural health products unchecked after they entered the market and was not always successful in responding to serious problems,” said the report..“We found Health Canada did little to prevent poor information from being given to consumers about licensed natural health products..“It did limited monitoring of licensed products and manufacturers of unlicensed products such as checking whether product labels and advertising contained misleading information.”.The Federal Court rejected a legal challenge by naturopaths in 2014 who argued products should not be federally regulated at all..“These herbs have been safely used for centuries,” co-plaintiff Eldon Dahl, a Calgary naturopath, said in an earlier interview. “There are no deaths associated with natural health products.”.Mike D’Amour is the British Columbia Bureau Chief for the Western Standard..,.mdamour@westernstandardonline.com
