Thank you very much for coming today.
There are some very specific issues that you've raised, and I think I'll begin with the natural health products. You've both raised it. Pharmacists say they should be in; the Canadian Health Food Association says they should be out.
We questioned the minister on this issue when she came before the committee. She said that at the end of the day they decided not to put them in because they were considered low risk. We've certainly had a lot of e-mails and correspondence from people both ways: people saying they should be in, and others saying they should be out.
I will go to Mr. Morrison. I think people really trust pharmacists; they're the go-to people. Pharmacists are more accessible to ask questions about safety. You have this prescription, or you want to buy something in the drug store, but you don't know what you should be using. You're the kind of go-to person to get that information.
You're saying that natural health products should be included. I guess it comes down to an issue of what we consider to be the risk relative to what is covered in the bill. I want you to think about that in terms of these major pharmaceuticals, the drugs that can have enormous side effects and adverse effects and can cause death.
In terms of natural health products, my understanding from all of the research I've done is that basically they're not going to kill you. In fact, I'm not aware of information that's says a natural health product, whether it's a vitamin or a herbal remedy, is going to kill you or severely injure you.
When you consider the risk, where do you place that in the spectrum relative to other things that are covered in this bill?