That's a great question.
Cosmetics and most consumer products are not tested prior to being put on the shelves. Consumers need to understand that. That's the important part. I am not aware of any government that can or does test potentially 30,000 new products ahead of time, so what Health Canada operates is a post-market system. What is important to Health Canada, or what kicks their product safety system into gear, is safety incidents. I had one myself, and the more people I talk to, particularly women, the more I find out they've had a problem with their mascara, or their foundation, or their lipstick. Nobody realizes that Health Canada never gets that information.
We've been encouraging consumers to please call Health Canada if they do have a reaction to their shampoo or their mascara. Call Health Canada because it's with those safety incident reports that their system kicks into gear and they start looking at the risk. It would be virtually impossible, I think, for any government to pretest these products before they are put on the market.