Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Oshawa and my colleague on the Standing Committee on Health for having presented so much evidence to back up this new bill before us today.
As we very well know, many people would like to have natural products become more accessible. I am very keen on them myself. I am convinced that four years ago, when I found I had breast cancer, the use of natural health products helped me, not to cure the cancer, but to receive the treatments I needed to cure it. Therefore I think it is very important to see natural health products be made readily accessible to the general public.
I do think, however, that certain amendments should be made to this bill. We must be very careful and prudent. At present, natural products are classified as a sub-category of drugs, under the Food and Drugs Act. This classification causes certain problems for the natural products industry, because it is necessary to carry out obligatory and very complex clinical studies, just as for medicines. These clinical trials cost natural health product companies a fortune and thus cause increase the cost of these products.
Moreover, it should be noted that an average of 12 years may elapse between the first laboratory tests and the marketing of medicines. Thus it is clear that natural products must be tested to verify their harmlessness and their real beneficial effects on health.
Nevertheless, it would be a good thing to simplify the verification procedure, so as not to submit a product known to be harmless to a series of tests that would only delay its entry into the market.
I should also add that some experts have told us that the drug approval schedules of the drug regulations would exclude some natural health product already on the shelves.
What this bill proposes, classifying natural health products as foods, would not permit the monitoring of certain products with respect to good manufacturing practices, since the law governing foods does not require that good manufacturing practices be applied to ensure that the products actually contain what is indicated on the label. Thus, natural health products cannot be considered drugs, but we cannot and do not want to recognize them as foods.
Earlier, my hon. colleague said that we have to be careful with products like Aspirin and Tylenol, but there are warnings. Some natural products, such as essential oils can be very dangerous, if misused or used improperly. But there are more and more essential oils on the market. We really have to ensure that the legislation we pass will take these aspects into account. That is very important.
In fact, my hon. colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie has indicated that an amendment to that effect would be welcome. Such an amendment would create a third category exclusively for natural health products, as recommended in the report of the Standing Committee on Health in 1998. This third category for natural health products only would ensure that these products are controlled so that consumers can be sure that they are using safe and efficient products without their having to be subjected to screening that would deny the public access to them.
We are also in favour of keeping the current labelling regulations contained in the natural health product regulations. They allow consumers to know the product's name, the quantity, and the conditions of use and storage exactly. They ensure that consumers are informed about the product and its possible side effects, as well as the recommended dosage.
Clearly, Schedule A has to be reviewed, particularly subsections 3(1) and 3(2), because it is obvious that, when a natural health product meets the scientific inspection requirements, one should be allowed to list on the label what conditions it is good for. In addition, given the current problems in our health system, the time has come to focus on prevention rather than remediation.
In fact, we know that, in China, family physicians are paid only as long as their patients remain healthy. This means that bad physicians do not have much of a clientele.
Given the prohibitive costs of health care, we should promote not only preventive measures that include healthy eating, exercise and recreational activities, but regulations that provide access to natural products of high quality.
Of course, we have to take care not to put up too many barriers to natural products, but at the same time, we should not overdo it. The current natural products regulations look like they were custom made to prevent some natural products from competing with pharmaceuticals. We cannot stop people from looking after their own health the way they want to and from buying natural products. What we can do however is ensure that the products are of high quality and meet the required standards.
We will be voting for this bill, but we do hope that our hon. colleague who introduced the bill will remember the tacit understanding concerning the amendments my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie had brought forward to create a third category of natural products and ensure control over the manufacturing, scientific safety and labelling of the products, because we feel the labelling requirements found in the Natural Health Products Regulations are important and justified.
Creating a third category specifically for natural health products would dispel any doubt about the application of the regulations and assure consumers that good manufacturing practices were used to make the products they are buying.