canada • healthcare

Protesters Rally for Natural Medicine

Demonstrators gathered in Gazebo Park Saturday afternoon to fight for Canadians’ right to use natural health products as an alternative to prescription medicine in the face of sweeping changes to the Canadian Food and Drug Act.

Health Canada has ignored pleas from the public and MPs to place natural health products (NHPs) under their own classification. Instead, Bill C-51 aims to reclassify NHPs as drugs under federal legislation. This could render up to 75 per cent of currently available NHPs illegal because of drug regulation laws.

While the new bill would require companies to prove the medicinal value of their products, protestors were concerned that they would lose access to medications they personally already find effective.

The bill will also expand the definition of “sell” in the Food and Drug Act to include giving a substance away for free. Many activists pointed out that a mother who fed her child garlic pills, for example, would technically be breaking the law.

Nakita Valerio, a health consultant for Optimum Health Vitamins, calls the situation ironic because the government is trying to regulate substances that have never caused death, whereas they already regulate prescription drugs that have. 

Bill C-51 has already passed its second reading, and could become law as early as this week.