Thank you. It's a very good question, Mr. Wilks. Thank you for asking it.
I was researching at Health Canada when the natural health products directorate was brought into being. At that point in time, Canada was a world leader, and it remains a world leader in having a natural health products directorate. Unfortunately, and I will say it here, they caved to industry pressure—and I'm talking about the natural health products industry—and removed issues of efficacy from approvals. So unlike biologics and pharmaceuticals, NHPs or natural health products don't actually need to have the stamp of showing that they are an efficacious agent.
Mostly people were worried about safety, and I share all of my colleagues' concern that many of the natural health products aren't all that safe. This is something that is recognized everywhere in the world.
I was in West Africa last month and watched a little boy writhing on the ground after he had to have a terrible abscess removed without painkillers, because the nurse in this tiny clinic without electricity recognized that these kids were coming in and.... People first go to what in Canada is the medicine cabinet or to what anywhere else is the local herbalist and pick up whatever they have. When they finally go as a last effort to the emergency ward, the emergency people can't treat them, because they don't know what they've taken.
I think the issue of natural health products would very easily derail all of our interests in getting the amended Bill C-17 forward, but I would like to leave it off for now, because we want to see Bill C-17 amended and approved.