Canadian ‘War-on-Health’???

By: James Burge

So I came across an article today that made me think. It is on a topic that hasn’t been getting much attention, which is good, because if it was getting the attention it deserves most would be outraged and the public outcry would likely put a stop to such things, if only for a short time, because, as we have seen in the case of politics for years, something which isn’t popular now, can be made popular under the right circumstances.  (Its worth pointing out that much of what I’m about to talk about is nothing more than speculation)

 

So the article “FDA Running Extortion Racket: Natural Supplement Companies Threatened with Arrest if They Don’t Pay Up” by: Mike Adams talks about the ways in which the US Food and Drug Administration has been using extortion style techniques to strong arm small Natural Health businesses who can not afford a legal fight and will settle out of court to try and salvage their business. What the FDA is trying to do is to get Natural Health companies to stop linking to scientific articles which explain or backup the benefits of various natural supplements.

 

Cherry products, for example, cannot link to scientific articles explaining the simple biological fact that cherries ease inflammation in human beings. Such links are considered “drug claims” by the FDA.

 

Canadians following the development of Bill C-51 will likely notice the parallels between the US FDA’s tactics and some of the things proposed by this bill. I would be willing to bet that this whole Bill C-51 thing is to pave the way for similar tactics or provide a legal framework allowing Health Canada to continue this practice (assuming this has already happened, which I think is likely). The article says that the US FDA is also trying to make Natural Health Websites remove consumer testimonials and are threatening imprisonment if companies don’t comply.

 

Can you imagine, even saying something like “An Apple a day, keeps the DR away” or even a simple anecdote recommending the use of Garlic as an antibiotic could be considered a “drug claim” by the US FDA even though they make fraudulent “drug claims” constantly!!!

 

FDA analysts estimated that Vioxx caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks, 30 to 40 percent of which were probably fatal, in the five years the drug was on the market.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib#Withdrawal)

 

So basically, (if my assumptions are correct, I haven’t read the bill, but I’m starting to think I should) it is attempting to criminalize not only the natural health products themselves, but the promotion of natural health supplements as beneficial, in favor of synthetic drugs most of which were deemed ‘safe’ under questionable circumstances, and Health Canada wants the same tools as the Americans in order to silence any source of opposition.

 

Already, it is against the law for any Natural Health supplement to make a claim on its packaging as to any health effects it has, something that usually has decades or more of real world anecdotal evidence. On the other hand, most prescription drug trials go as follows:

• Group A is given a new experimental drug, and group B is given sugar pills,
• Both groups are tested for any number of physical ailments/benefits like blood pressure, cognitive function, lung capacity, and whatever else they can think of, until it is found that Group A has a statistically significant deviation from group B.
• If, for example, Group A has significantly lower Cholesterol then Group B, regardless of any other outside factors for such a discrepancy, the drug is then marketed with the claim that it lowers Cholesterol which little to no mention of the fact that it could have any number of other effects that weren’t statistically significant (or beneficial) enough to mention.

So then the public goes to their DR with high blood pressure and are given a drug that could have any number of long term side effects, yet to recommend Coenzyme Q10, Garlic, Hawthorn (herb), Fish Oil, Folic acid, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and, of course, Exercise; all of which have been shown to reduce blood pressure, and have no known toxic effects (unlike newly synthesized chemicals), would be illegal.

 

Its amazing to think that this bill could be used to criminalize vitamins and minerals in the form of daily health supplements and to “penalizing parents who give herbs or supplements to their children.”  As well, if the government requires a prescription for a drug, any naturally occurring source would also require a prescription. What if they decided that potassium has health benefits that should be monitored by a physician and require a prescription to obtain potassium supplements, they would be criminalizing people from buying, owning, and eating Banana’s without a proper prescription. The only question left is if such prosecutions would be made under the controlled drugs and substances act. It really takes the ‘war-on-drugs’ to a whole new level.

Update: Only because I think this is an important issue, I thought I’d include a link on how to find your Member of Parliament here.

Update 2.0: Just came across this article about Vioxx, I havn’t finished reading it so take a look for yourself.