Bill C-51

I am always curious as to how certain pieces of legislature come about. The proposed Bill C-51 for instance, that is causing ripples of protest throughout the natural health field.
According the Government of Canada website Bill C-51 is; “An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, was introduced in the House of Commons on 8 April 2008. Among other things, the bill creates new offences relating to food, therapeutic products (a new term used in the bill that includes drugs) and cosmetics, requires licenses for importing food and for interprovincial trade in food, and makes amendments to the licensing of therapeutic products.” The claim is that this radical reformation of the current Food and Drug Act will help keep people safer.
In 2004 regulations were put into place to make sure that all manufacturers of herbs and vitamins meet certain standards. Many smaller companies were unable to afford the money and time needed to get this status, and as a result have disappeared from the market. Others have repeatedly been told to revamp their applications so that even four years later, their status is still dubious.
According to many of the petitions I’ve been asked to sign to stop this from being passed however, up to 60-75 percent of our natural health products could become outlawed and parents who give herbs and vitamins to children without the express permission of a medical doctor could be criminals. The new bill would replace the word “drug” as it appears throughout the Act, with the term “therapeutic product”, thus leaving all plant-based remedies under the same control as pharmaceuticals.
I don’t like to be alarmist and claims that I have read online about this Bill allowing the government to seize your assets, raid your home or business and throw you into jail for the heinous crime of making an herbal tincture seem like they may be exaggerated.
But as I write this, I am sitting in my yard, watching my herbs grow strong in the sunlight, and I wonder where the line between food and medicine will be drawn. For example, if I pick dandelion leaves out of my lawn and put them into a salad as a tonic for my liver, is that food or medicine? If I make my own salve using calendula flowers and give a jar to a friend as a gift, am I now manufacturing and bottling a drug? I’ve never thought of myself as the criminal type, but if teas made from my garden are suddenly banned I may find myself running a hippie-based black market! The implications are a little too Orwellian for my taste.
There are plenty of resources out there for people who would like to know more about this and try to make a difference. One is through Health Action Network (HANS) who is trying to be a voice for the health-conscious in Canada. They publish a great little magazine and are always looking for new members to spread the word www.hans.org There are also an abundance of online petitions you can sign, or drafts of letters you can download and send in to make your voice heard.
If worse comes to worse, I’ll save a bottle of echinacea for you.