Your Action is Required!

1. I originally created this community and our mailing list in order to inspire and activate lovers of homeopathy and those who believe that our choice to use homeopathy and natural medicine is a fundamental right that must be protected. And so I ask you now to join me, use your voice and protect the future of homeopathy and natural health products in Canada.
   
   Continued access to homeopathy is now under a great and very real threat.
   
   Bill C-47 was passed by the Canadian government on June 22, 2023. It was a budget bill with hidden revisions that create significant financial and regulatory changes that would significantly reduce access to Natural Health Products in Canada.  This was done without any stakeholder consultation, without feedback from manufacturers, practitioners and Canadian consumers.
   
   NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT.
   
   The good news is that we still have time. We can still get the numbers and momentum to be heard and take back our rights. Canadian citizens have stood together on mass to stop the regulation of natural health products (NHP) before, and we know we can do it again.
   
   What this bill means for you:
   
   1. Censorship - claims can no longer be made as to the benefits of a product (unless they are extremely minor and related to dental, periodontal or topical), so you won’t be informed on what natural product can assist in what condition.
   
   2. Increased Costs - Increased Costs of Manufacturing and new fees for manufacturing, distribution, and selling NHPs will significantly increase costs for consumers and shut down small and medium businesses who won't be able to meet the demands of new fees and regulations. The creation of Fees for NHP businesses to cover increased surveillance, and onerous fines of $5,000,000 a day based on fines intended for pharmaceutical giants.
   
   3. The same standards of evidence that are required for chemical drugs will be imposed on NHPs restricting the possibility of them ever entering  the market. A framework not at all viable for homeopathy which is based on individualization.– this should not be applicable to homeopathic remedies that are by definition non-toxic, meaning risk of use is non-existent.
   
   4. More illness, death and suffering from lack of access to NHPs
   
   5. Compounding Exemptions for Individual Patients may be lost
   
   We are being told that NHPs are dangerous and that the government needs to protect us by new regulatory burdens. But what is the risks?
   
   According to the Discussion Paper by the Natural Health Products Protection Association:
   
   • You are 14 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to die from a natural
   health product;
   • You are 428 times more likely to die from bicycling than to die from a natural health
   product;
   • You are 714 times more likely to die in a school bus accident than to die from a
   natural health product;
   • You are 1,071 times more likely to be murdered than to die from a natural health
   product.
   
   
   What you Can Do
   
   1. Inform Yourself
   - Watch this informative video by the Natural Health Products Protection Association featuring Shawn Buckley

   -Read the Discussion Paper by the Natural Health Products Protection Association

2. Talk to your Member of Parliament:
- Mailing a letter is more effective than an email and personalized letters have a greater impact than form letters. However, sending any letter is better than sending no letter, so you’ll find a letter template at the end of this email. Write multiple letters! Find your MP by postal code.

- Make an appointment to meet with your MP: For more information on how to approach your MP and discuss homeopathy, Americans for Homeopathy Choice has excellent resources which apply to homeopathy here in Canada as well. There you can download discussion papers on What is Homeopathy, Evidence for Homeopathy, Why Homeopathy Matters and a Listing of Homeopathic Research.

3. Take 10 minutes to complete the consultation survey on the Health Canada website before August 10, 2023. Be clear that you do not want any added fees on the Natural Health Product Community; these fees are unfair as natural health companies have an exceptional safety record and do not make the kind of profits that pharmaceutical products do. Furthermore, increased fees affect your freedom to choose natural health supplements and homeopathic medicines for the health of yourself and/or your family and increase pressure on our already strained conventional medical system.

4. Share with everyone you know, especially Canadians not everyone who uses NHPs is aware of what is happening, please help us share the message.


Sample Letter
courtesy of Canadians For Homeopathy

Today’s date

Name of your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OA6

Dear Mr./Ms. Name of your MP here,

I ask you to repeal sections 500-504 from Bill C-47 irrationally affecting natural health products. These sections add unnecessary fees and burdens based on unreasonable fees and regulations. The result of Bill C-47 will be a reduction of access and choice to use natural health products which have helped to save lives, reduce the burden on our healthcare system, and have a proven safety record.

How does this affect you, use your own words and personal stories:
As a Canadian, I rely on homeopathic medicines and other natural health products to maintain the health of myself and my family.  Bill C-47 is imposing unfair and unwarranted fees and fines that will drive many small and medium sized Canadian companies out of business.  Untenable fines of  $5,000,000 a day is inhumane especially considering the safety record of Natural Health Products such as non-toxic homeopathic medicines. Additional fees to fund new permanent inspection and regulatory programs will dramatically increase the regulatory burden on homeopathic manufacturers. As a result Canadians will lose our access to many of the homeopathic medicines and natural health products we now have. Furthermore, increased prices for consumers will affect our choice to have non-pharmaceutical health care and put more pressure on the Canadian medical system.

List the homeopathic medicines and supplements you use regularly, and explain how they have been beneficial to you, for example:
We have enjoyed using homeopathic medicines and other natural health products our whole lives to keep our family healthy and to help prevent disease. I have found homeopathic medicines to be exceptionally safe and as a Canadian I value my freedom of choice in accessing these products. Making changes to the labeling of these products and adding fees to police homeopathic medicines and other natural health products is unnecessary, as these products already have an exceptional safety record. Homeopathic medicines in particular are entirely non-toxic to people and animals, safe for our natural water systems, and there are no by-products from the manufacturing process. Homeopathic remedies are already stringently regulated through the NHPD who's development process that included consultation with stakeholders.

End with a clear ask :
I am asking that the government repeal the cost recovery process outlined in Bill C-47 and all changes to the regulation and fees related to the manufacture, distribution, commercialization, and sale of Natural Health Products. Natural Health Products are already well regulated in Canada and this costly initiative will not serve to protect the Canadian people but rather to limit our freedoms and sovereignty.

Please let me know how you stand on this issue.

Sincerely,

Your name here
Your address here
Include your postal code

Don't be afraid to write multiple letters. Let's flood them with the strength of awake citizens taking the democratic right to be heard.