Promotion of natural health products will likely increase

(NC)—Companies that manufacture natural health products such as vitamins and herbal blends are gaining the ability to put approved health claims on their products.

The federal government is licensing natural health products and their manufacturing plants, which will give manufacturers unprecedented freedom to promote their products. Dr. Carolyn Dean, a Canadian-born physician, naturopath and Medical Director of the VidaCosta Spa in Costa Rica, says the change is long overdue.

"The key to good health is being an informed owner of your own body and making informed health care choices," says Dr. Dean. "This new approach will give consumers one more avenue for researching their health and wellness.

"Supplementing our body with specific nutrients or therapeutic agents can make the difference in resolving or maintaining our health and well-being or not."

Jim Strausz, manager of a licensed Canadian manufacturing company, has hope for a very positive outcome for the change in regulation, despite what he calls problems and delays with implementation. "There is a huge consumer demand for alternative therapies, and once the organizational challenges are resolved, the regulation will provide consumers with confidence in safe, effective, natural health products." Part of the program is final product testing that involves analysis for heavy metals, microbiological contaminants, herbicides and pesticides. Every batch of every product has to meet all the specifications in order to be released for sale.

Commenting on the cost and regulatory requirements, Strausz says "The industry has never had a problem with safety, but issues such as counterfeit prescription drugs and fatal pet foods are driving increased controls. I see "pedigreed" products with positively identified ingredients and thorough final testing as a requirement coming to consumer products. The natural health products program does have a huge backlog and significant costs, but breaking it away from the existing drug model which is designed for products new to humans, would reduce costs and complexity significantly."

- News Canada