Natural health products "minimalist" regulatory system urged by Canadian advisory panel.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
CANADIAN NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS "MINIMALIST" REGULATORY FRAMEWORK recommended by the Advisory Panel on Natural Health Products in a final report to the Canadian Federal Standing Committee on Health. The advisory panel, created in May 1997 by Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Program to help develop a revised policy for regulating natural health products, "felt strongly that federal government regulation of [natural health products] should be permissive rather than the prescriptive, its interventions minimalist unless potential risks to the public warrant greater intrusion by the state," the report states. The committee is distributing the report to interested parties and plans to make recommendations for a regulatory framework for NHPs in the fall.