The federal government will be introducing new regulations concerning natural health products such as herbal supplements.

The regulations would put more than 25,000 products under the authority of the health department's Natural Health Products Directorate.

Health Canada estimates more than half of Canadians consume natural products in the form of traditional herbal products, vitamins and mineral supplements, traditional Chinese, and other medicines and homeopathic preparations.




The directorate was set up in 1999, but a regulatory framework had not been announced until now.

At the time, Health Minister Allan Rock said his primary concerns are to "make sure that what it says on the label is actually correct...that it's manufactured in a way that's pure (and) if the product makes a claim, that the claim is true."

The products under scrutiny include vitamins, minerals, traditional medicines, and botanicals. Popular natural remedies such as Echinacea, used to ward off colds, and St. John's Wort, used to treat depression, will come under the microscope.

  • 56 per cent of Canadians took one or more natural health product
  • among them, 47 per cent took vitamins
  • 22 per cent mineral supplements
  • 20 per cent herbal remedies
  • eight per cent homeopathic products

    • Prior to the regulations, consumers were pretty much left on their own.

    The remedies didn't make health claims, which would classify them as drugs. So, in the end, they have been treated as foods, which meant no warnings on how much to take or what could be considered dangerous combinations.

    "The big mistake is that if something is natural it is benign and better," says Dr. Joseph Schwarz of McGill University. "Nature is not benign, it can be extremely dangerous."

    Under the new rules, the herbal medications industry will have two years to do two things: change its manufacturing processes to meet certain standards and change its labels.

    The labels should tell consumers:

    • what the product will do
    • how much they need to take
    • what they should avoid while taking the remedy

    The process could take up to five years, but once the rules are fully implemented, Canada will be the only country in the world to regulate herbal medicines as a separate product.

    The industry itself has been calling for rules.

    David Skinner of the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association of Canada says people have become disillusioned with natural medicines because the products just aren't delivering what they claim.

    Several studies have shown some of the products don't even contain the herb that they claim to have.