Canadian's beat Bill C-51 — but watch the back door!

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Canadian's beat Bill C-51 — but watch the back door!

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Working with our international affiliate, Alliance for Natural Health

(ANH).

ANH and AAHF have been keeping a close eye on Bill C-51 an amendment

introduced by the Harper government to the Canadian Food & Drugs Act. This

bill, if

passed, would have had dire consequences in Canada and more than likely would

cause a ripple effect in the US and in the European Union.

But for now, breathe a sigh of relief as the mass opposition to bill C-51

forced the Canadian Parliament to call off the second reading last month. The

Bill, having been successfully through first reading on 8 April 2008, is now

dead.

The Bill was going to create a new category called 'therapeutic products'

which would throw natural health products—or ‘therapeutic foods’—into

the

same category as drugs. It would also have given Canadian authorities obscene

powers to raid premises, confiscate products—with no reasons given. It would

scare the small, somewhat fragile and fragmented natural products industry into

submission—an industry that is the life line for millions of consumers who

prefer to take natural products rather than drugs to manage their health.

To find out more about what Bill C-51 was going to mean to Canadian

citizens, _click here_ (http://www.stopc51.com/) . _http://www.stopc51.com/_

(http://www.stopc51.com/) Around the Corner

Bill C-52 is designed for something entirely different. It’s meant to be

about “protecting consumers†from unsafe products and chemicals, such as

pesticides. It is not directly concerned with natural health products. But,

Shawn

Buckley (a lawyer with expertise in the Food and Drugs Act Regulations and one

of the key players in defeating Bill C-51)identified that by slipping in one

simple amendment to Schedule 1 of Bill C-52, the Bill could be applied to

natural health products overnight. It could—put simply—be used to take away

their rights in the name of safety. To find out more about Bill C-52, _click

here_ (http://nhppa.org/?page_id=24) . _http://nhppa.org/?page_id=24_

(http://nhppa.org/?page_id=24)

At the moment it is our understanding that a second bill (Bill C52) is in

draft form and nothing further will happen until the end of the summer recess,

but then a full strategy needs to be in place to halt the direction that

Health Canada is going with this legislation. This is a very real threat to the

natural health industry in Canada, even though it doesn’t specifically target

natural products, via a small amendment it can be made applicable to them—all

under the guise of consumer safety of course.

More

To read the full article from ANH visit:

_http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/canadians-beat-bill-c-51-%E2%80%94-watch-back

-door_ (http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/canadians-beat-bill-c-51-—

-watch-back-door)

Listen to a recent ANH radio show (14 July 08) entitled “Connecting the dots

between the FDA, Health Canada and the European Commissionâ€, where Helke

Ferrie and Rick Jaffe were our guests visit:

_http://www.iamhealthyradio.com/alliance_for_natural_health.html_

(http://www.iamhealthyradio.com/alliance_for_natural_health.html) .

(http://www.woodheat.org/environment/woodsmokeproblem.pdf)