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In 1998, after extensive consultations with consumers and the NHP industry, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health produced a report, Natural Health Products: A Shared Vision. The report included 53 recommendations and stated that NHPs were neither food nor drugs and warranted a separate regulatory framework. Then federal Minister of Health, the Hon. Alan Rock, approved all 53 recommendations and the development of new Natural Health Product Regulations. Since then, the industry has worked hard to comply with the NHP Regulations, most notably those that require NHPs to obtain a product "license" before being sold in Canada and those which require NHPs to be made in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices. Since 2004, our Natural Health Product industry has.... Submitted over 41,000 license applications. Received just over 16,000 license approvals
Do the Math
As you can see, just over 1/3 of the NHP licenses requested by the industry during the past five (5) years have actually been approved. In other words, nearly 2/3 are still waiting or refused - and may never be approved. If that happens, the entire Natural Health Products industry in Canada would be drastically curtailed. Your favourite NHP may no longer be available for sale in Canada.