I am not an alarmist or an extremist but when a member of the Healthy Gut community (thank you, Pamela) posted this petition, I felt compelled to spread the word. If you care about your access to supplements and the freedom of choice, please read this, forward it to friends and family and most importantly, sign the petition to let our government know that we want access to these products.

Why this petition? The link is from the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) who are not known for being alarmist or extreme either. They have spent years, working directly with Health Canada, to help protect our access to supplements. So for them to sound an alarm bell and ask us to take action, means something. So I am taking action.

As most of you may know, currently under Health Canada regulations, supplements must obtain an NPN number and to get this, the supplement companies must submit their manufacturing standards, the efficacy of the products and the research supporting any claims they may make. This is good for consumers and good for the alternative health industry.

However, proposed changes to how NPNs are being granted could change what is available. If passed, the proposal will allow Health Canada to skip the review process for some products and those products would have to add ”Health Canada has not reviewed” as a disclaimer to their label which may hurt their sales and that is not fair.

This review is the best part of the current regulations because this provides us as consumers with the necessary oversight that the products are safe and contain the ingredients they claim to contain.

The other troubling aspect of the proposal is that other supplements may require the same level of evidence that is required for drugs. You may think this is a good thing but a supplement is not a drug. They are not that powerful and do not have the power to kill unless someone did something really dumb like take several bottles at once, but that can occur with anything.

I can tell you right now that this aspect would be applied to the most effective supplements as those are the ones that have the political attention of the pharmaceutical industry and by requiring the standard of evidence of drugs, they will be either held up for years by Health Canada or just banned completely.

Let’s be clear. I have unequivocally benefited from taking supplements. They are not magic pills. It requires some knowledge to understand what systems in body are not functioning properly to cause the health issues as well as a combination of nutrients to support their function.

I believe in this fundamentally and have used supplements very effectively. This has saved the medical system thousands of dollars as I would have had a hysterectomy by now (they wanted to give me one) and costly joint replacements surgery. I have also avoid taking hundreds of dollars in drugs.

I did this by combining a number of strategies which included multiple supplements, good quality food and lifestyle management and it has allowed me to succeed. While I am not perfect, I am pretty good considering what I have had as issues, and I see the availability of supplements as a necessary part for me to continue to improve or deal with any issues that may be waiting for me as I get older.

Whether you take supplements or not, it is important that you help preserve your right to purchase what you wish for your health so please sign this petition.

Click here to sign.

You will also find links for more information at the bottom of the CHFA page for the petition.

Remember true power is a motivated, informed majority of the consuming public, exercising their right for their voices to be heard. Please take action.