Have you ever considered what’s behind the lopsided reporting for pharmaceuticals versus Natural Health Products (NHPs)? Let’s first consider the stats, which speak for themselves. In Canada, since poison control statistics started being kept in 1955, there has been zero (0) deaths attributed to an NHP. That is zero deaths in 60 years. (The one exception may be iron overdose in children, but even an extensive search produced no record of an actual death caused by it in Canada.) So, think about that for a minute…well over 100,000 products in a 60 year period, many used one or more times daily by an ever increasing majority of the population, with no deaths. That is billions of doses per year, every year. [1]

Now consider that for pharmaceuticals, both prescription and non-prescription, the more accurate question to ask is: how many deaths are caused by each drug, every year? Just one drug, Vioxx, killed a conservatively estimated 55,000 people before being pulled from the market . [2] So much for the pre-market drug trials showing that Vioxx and all the other recalled drugs causing death are safe and effective! Check out the “horror story” track record of the antidepressant class of drugs called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs It is sobering and shocking. According to the Mayo Clinic, acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the US, and in Canada has killed hundreds of people in the past decade. [3] Aspirin causes deaths yearly due to gastrointestinal bleeds, as does ibuprofen. Nyquil can and in many instances has caused death…which turns out to be the most serious side-effect for the majority of pharmaceuticals. Yet many are available at gas stations andconvenience stores . How often do we hear about their dangers as front-page news in the media? On the contrary, no matter how horrific the injuries or death produced by pharmaceuticals are, we are conditioned by the media and the pharmaceutical industry to downplay them…just shrug our shoulders and remain desensitized to their dangers.

Now ask yourself the same question about any news story that calls into question the quality, safety, or effectiveness of natural health products. It is blasted as front-page news on every outlet in the country, and draws one derogatory comment after the other, all pounding the table for tighter controls! Can you imagine what would happen if a genuine NHP was to cause a Canadian death? We would hear about it for weeks, and the product would likely be pulled instantly. Yet, how often do we even hear about pharmaceutical deaths, period? And how many of the drugs that have caused death were pre-approved by Health Canada?

So, given the painfully obvious differences in safety levels between Natural Health Products and pharmaceuticals, why was Health Canada so intent on classifying NHPs as DRUGS in the first place, when they have so much more in common with foods? (Consider cinnamon, turmeric, rosemary, and all the other NHPs found in our food supply.)

The agency first tried to class all NHPs as DRUGS in 1997 with the Establishment Licensing Act. But Canadians protested en masse, and the issue was put before Parliament, which decided, several years and millions of taxpayers’ dollars later, that NHPs should have their own category. But despite all the protests and government resources spent, Health Canada classed NHPs as DRUGS anyway, albeit with their own set of regulations. Why?

Was it so that they could: #1. Maintain control of what NHPs are used for? Yes. The definition of a drug is based not on what something is, but rather what it’s used for! This is why Rosemary is fine as a food in your supper. But take that exact same rosemary, and put it in a capsule, and use it to increase circulation, or as an antioxidant, and it instantly becomes a DRUG, and requires a long list of scary side effects, virtually none of which have ever actually happened before, but only theoretically could happen! Contrast this to pharmaceutical side effects which did happen, as reported in the drug’s trials, and that are often dangerously understated, such as with Vioxx!

Remember Nattokinase, which is from fermented soy beans? Despite a complete lack of adverse reports or complaints against it in all of North America, (including the U.S. with 10X our population), it was removed from the Canadian market because it was being used to prevent blood clots. Of course, it continues to be safely taken by countless millions of Americans, while Pradaxa, a new generation pharmaceutical blood thinner that has caused over 500 deaths, remains on the market! [4] You see by classifying NHPs as DRUGS Health Canada ensures that if an NHP is used for a serious clinical condition, and competes for market share against pharmaceuticals, they can remove it no matter how safe it is. They simply demand that it has to “prove” safety with what are multi-million dollar trials that no one is prepared to do on a non-patentable natural substance, because all your competitors can simply use the results for free.

Was the insistence on the DRUG classification so that Health Canada and the pharmaceutical industry could: #2. “Control the message”? Yes. Even if a product is harmless…(say for example a probiotic where you could safely eat the whole bottle of pills at once), and you’ve seen that product help a condition for years, and there is mountains of evidence to back it up…if the condition it helps is not one of the claims applied for by the producing company, and approved by Health Canada, then technically you aren’t allowed to say it, or advertise it. Otherwise you are suggesting it for an off-label use, and that is against the Regulations. Health Canada has a specific regulatory body to police this called the Marketed Health Products Directorate. This aspect of Health Canada’s regulation has the potential to suppress large amounts of true and researched information about NHPS!

Yet, was there even a deeper “method to the madness” that Health has been undertaking: i.e. once NHPs were solidly in the drug category, Health Canada could set about #3. Erasing the distinction between OTC pharmaceuticals and NHPs? Yes, and they are actively attempting exactly this. First the agency started awarding Natural Product Numbers, (NPNs) to thousands of products that few, if any, would consider natural…such as Crest products, Covergirl makeup, Nicorette gum…often containing a long list of artificial dyes, flavourings, excipients, etc. Next, they changed the name and purview of the directorate governing NHPs from the “Natural Health Products Directorate”, (NHPD), to the “Natural and Non-Prescription Health Products Directorate”, (NNHPD), and made the directorate responsible for OTC pharmaceuticals as well. In other words, they’ve lumped them all together!

The agency has continued to demand that authentic natural products put ridiculous, often absolutely exaggerated risk information, warnings, and contraindications on their labels to make true NHPs seem much more scary then any real evidence shows they are. Meanwhile, Health Canada is very busy “mining” the Canadian population for any and all side effects that could have possibly been caused by NHPs. At the Canadian Health Food Association Trade Show in April, 2015, Health Canada had a table and was handing out pens with the following notice on them: “Canada Vigilance” with a sub-line “Suspect an Adverse Reaction? Report it…”

All you have to do is “suspect” one, and that will do! So when was the last time you got a pen that told you to report a drug’s side effects? And if there are side effects are you directed to report them to anyone but your doctor?

In blending the two classes, Health Canada simultaneously camouflages pharmaceuticals with the extreme safety record of NHPs, and casts doubt on the safety of NHPs, which are now lumped together with an entire group of pharmaceuticals that have caused death. This also paves the way for the new generation of drugs on the way, that are simply isolated and patented constituents from botanicals, which have been shown to be effective for a unique purpose. Hence they can be awarded use-patents. Bayer, for example, reportedly has hundreds of these patents. Like the one for ruscogenin, a constituent of the herb Butcher’s Broom, to be marketed for cellulite.

So, given the above information, the point is: Don’t get sucked-in to believing that Natural Health Products are the same as OTC or other synthetic pharmaceuticals! It is a dangerous game making people believe that pharmaceuticals with the worst side-effect of death, are far less dangerous than they actually are, or that genuine NHPs should be feared based on the number of deaths they have produced…which is none in Canada in 60 years!

Don’t Buy it! Reject it! Let your MP know what Health Canada is up to, and that you want to know their stance on Natural Health Products in the upcoming election. Be polite, yet put them on record, and let them know you are concerned with where the entire regulatory path for Natural Health Products is headed.

Yours in Choice,

Citizens For Choice in Healthcare

If you would like to join a group of concerned citizens that are concerned about their healthcare, and trying to do something about it, then Citizens For Choice In Healthcare, and become part of the solution! There is power in numbers! All of us together will make a difference!