Thank you for that perspective. I'd like to share with you the perspective of the industry itself. I have been hearing from delegations of naturopathic physicians that count on the products, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers. Their perspective is that this process is completely broken down and badly needs to be changed.
According to industry representatives, the 17,000 figure is not approved or denied. Their figures may or may not be correct, but I'm sure they're in the ballpark. In the case of 33% of the products, the person responsible has essentially given up, because the process is too onerous and complex for a small business person. Many of these products are not money-makers. They usually are not patented. They're not big pharma. They're small.
Thirty-three per cent have given up, while 42% are stuck, and approximately 25% have either been approved or denied. That's not a very good batting average for five years. And I would like to put on record a correction of what the minister said earlier, which was that 76% of product licence applications are completed. I have information from the health ministry, through a question on the order paper, that referred to 70% being either completed or in the process of being completed. This means that they could still be in the backlog.
That 76% is not right, if I interpret the bulletin from the health ministry correctly. Some 20 million Canadians use natural health products; 10,000 businesses are producing, distributing, or selling them; and it's a $2-billion industry. For those businesses, there is no certainty. A huge percentage have either given up on their product or are stuck. They are not able to distribute their products to other countries, because the licensing is stuck for up to five years. Some of them have had their applications in for five years. From their perspective, this process is not adhering to the principles determined by the all-party committee on health that was the guiding document for this process.
Everywhere, discouraged or frantic business people are wondering what is going on. I wonder if you could give the readers of these transcripts an idea of what changes you will make to this dismal process.