CONTENTS
1) Editorial: What’s New in Natural Health Product Regulation?
2) Feature: Strauss Herb Company in Court: Can You Be There?
3) Issues Updates
-- Tell FDA Not to Weaken Labeling for Irradiated Foods
-- Do You Know What’s in Your Cosmetics?
-- 2006 Census of Agriculture: Farm Operations and Operators
-- A Sneak Attack on US Organic Standards
-- Canada’s Oil and Gas Industries 1997 to 2006
-- Food Consumption in Canada 2006
4) Media Watch
-- US Prepares to Publish Dietary Supplement GMPs
-- More Canadians Choosing Alternative Therapies Despite Having to Pay Their Own Way
-- Chelation Heart Treatment on Trial in Ottawa
-- Climate Change: A Guide for the Perplexed
-- Biofuels, the Basics
-- Manual Lawn Mowers Are Making a Comeback
-- Film Stars and their “Green” Credentials
-- Consumer Fervor Driving the Organic Foods Market in Canada, Survey Finds
-- Retail Sales of Certified Organic Food Products in Canada in 2006
-- Organic Farming Booming in Canada, Agriculture Census Suggests
-- Organic Versus Local
-- Greens Call for Organic PEI
-- GMO Labeling and Advertising Under Codex
-- Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves
-- Cancer Risks from Microwaves Confirmed
-- Integrated Care Gives Cancer Patients Hope
-- Catastrophic Bee Colony Collapse Not Affecting Organic Hives
-- Mobile Phones and Vanishing Birds
-- Cancer Doctors Paid for Prescribing Dubious Drugs, Part 1
-- Cancer Doctors Paid for Prescribing Dubious Drugs, Part II
5) Calendar of Events
-- Battle of the Bulge - Retain, Regain or Maintain Your Proper Body Shape, June 1, Surrey
-- Buteyko Breathing Seminar, June 5 or 6, Richmond
-- Organic Food Certification, June 6, Vancouver
-- The Business of Selling Wellness, June 7, Tsawwassen
-- Energy Healing for Cancer, June 11, Port Moody
-- Biopro Vancouver, June 15, Burnaby
-- The Cause and Natural Healing of Breast Cancer, June 28, Vancouver
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1) What’s New in Natural Health Product Regulation?
We’ve been hearing them for so long now that they’ve become background noise that many of us choose to ignore.
I’m talking about potential threats to Canada’s natural health products industry. The same threats that we at HANS have monitored since the early 1990s. The same threats that prompted four very successful HANS forums in 1997 and 1998, as well as thousands of letters to Health Canada from HANS members and concerned Canadians.
No-one wanted to see our choice of natural health products shrink, or made more expensive, or available through pharmacies and chain markets to the detriment of the “Mom and Pop” health food stores that have developed this once fledgling industry and watched it grow.
That was 10 years ago. What’s happening now?
A lot, if the meeting hosted by Common Ground Magazine in Vancouver on May 29th is any indication. A small but ambitious group of retailers, distributors, consumers and the media gathered to discuss a revival of these same issues and, in particular, a recent and unexpected initiative by the Natural Health Products Directorate called “Cost-Recovery”. This initiative would require manufacturers of natural health products to pay a fee to help cover the federal costs involved in regulation of the industry.
Certainly, someone has to pay, but what about other consequences, like bankrupted businesses and higher consumer costs?
For example, a representative from one Vancouver herbal product manufacturer and retailer was present at the meeting. I asked him how many products they might lose off their shelves if they didn’t pay the licensing fees proposed by the federal government.
“Almost a thousand,” he told me. In other words, the majority of herbal products in their store.
Then I asked much the business he represented would have to pay according to the additional fees suggested by the Natural Health Products Directorate and he said $500,000 – money they do not have, which could mean the end of their business.
Assuming this store/manufacturer somehow scraped together the funds to save their products, it’s fairly obvious that prices would rise and that consumers would absorb the added cost.
This is just one example of a very multifaceted issue surrounding natural health product regulation and I urge anyone interested to read our article in the summer 2007 Health Action Magazine, which will be in members’ mailboxes over the next few days.
In the meantime, we’re watching and considering strategies that, as always, stay true to protecting the interests of Canadian consumers.
We’ll keep you posted, and hey, thanks for being a HANS member. It’s your membership support that keeps us around to do this important work as one of Canada’s largest consumer health groups.
Warm regards,
Lorna J Hancock
HANS Executive Director and Founding Member
AND
Health Canada Faces Huge Backlog in the Licensing of Natural Health Products
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/216069
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2) Strauss Herb Company in Court: Can You Be There?
Strauss Herb Company of Kamloops invites HANS members and friends to attend a court hearing in Vancouver on June 15th. The purpose is to impress upon the judge hearing the arguments that the issue being decided is of significant importance to the citizens of Canada.
What is the issue? In November 2005, Health Canada announced a new policy that essentially says that plants from which a Schedule F substance (prescription drug) can be extracted shall be deemed as equivalent and will only be available by prescription as well.
You may have noticed that products containing red yeast rice, yohimbe bark, and cowhage are no longer available. The herb gotu cola was also scheduled to be restricted but received a reprieve because of extensive lobbying from industry. That said, the policy which makes this possible is still in force.
Because of federal court rules, a formal notice to challenge the policy had to be filed within 30 days. Strauss Herb Company did so in December 2005.
We submitted affidavits on the issue that the drug yohimbine and the herb yohimbe are not equivalent and should not be treated as equivalent. Our affidavits were prepared by Steven Dentali, PhD, vice president of Scientific Affairs of the American Herbal Products Association, Allison McCuthcheon, PHD, research scientist, and Robert Jackman, PhD, research and development consultant. These three scientists are arguably amongst the most knowledgeable in the world in the study of herbs.
The purpose of the up-coming hearing in Vancouver is for the judge to consider the admissibility of new evidence from the US Food and Drug Administration that Health Canada’s claim that yohimbe is a restricted product in the US is, in fact, incorrect. Health Canada is arguing that the court should not be able to hear this truth--that Health Canada’s sworn expert testimony is misleading and false.
We have a unique and rare opportunity here to win a significant victory over the regulatory creep that is violating our rights as consumers, retailers, manufacturers and practitioners.
If you are able and/or interested in attending the court to show support for this critical initiative, please contact me.
Peter Helgason
Strauss Herb Company
250-376-5216
Court Date:
June 15, 2007
Federal Court (in Pacific Centre)
#701 West Georgia Street, 7th Floor
Vancouver, BC. V7Y 1B6
Time: 9:30 am
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3) ISSUE UPDATES
Tell FDA Not to Weaken Labeling for Irradiated Foods
What if the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule that would intentionally hide information you rely on to make decisions about what to feed yourself and your family? Or if the FDA proposed changing food labeling information to something the agency knows to be misleading to consumers?
Well, the FDA has announced just such a rule to weaken labeling of irradiated foods. Currently, irradiated food must be labeled as “Treated with irradiation” or “Treated by radiation” and have on them the irradiated symbol. But now, in yet another attempt to appease industry at the expense of the public, the FDA has proposed a new rule that would allow irradiated food to be marketed in some cases without any labeling at all. In other cases, the rule would allow the terms “electronically pasteurized” or “cold pasteurized” to replace the use of “irradiated” on labels. These terms are not used by scientists, but rather are designed to fool consumers about what’s been done to their food.
More at http://ga3.org/campaign/Irradiation/8gx5873493it7xj?
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Do You Know What’s in Your Cosmetics?
Now in its fourth year and third major update, Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Product Safety Database provides safety ratings for nearly 25,000 personal care products - almost a quarter of all products on the market - and the 7,000 ingredients they contain. Due to gaping legal loopholes, companies can put virtually any ingredient into personal care products. Even worse, the government does not require pre-market safety tests for any of them. Our aim is to fill in where companies and the government left off.
Skin Deep is the only tool available to consumers to assess and compare the safety of personal care products. More at http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1...
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2006 Census of Agriculture: Farm Operations and Operators
Between 2001 and 2006, both the number of census farms in Canada and the number of farm operators continued their long-term decline.
The census counted 229,373 census farms as of May 16, 2006, down 7.1 percent or 17,550 from 2001. At the same time, it counted 327,060 farm operators, a 5.5 percent decline, the equivalent of 19,140 people.
More at http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070516/d070516a....
AND
Farmers More Likely to Have Two Jobs, Agriculture Census Says
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/05/16/agcensus.ht...
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A Sneak Attack on US Organic Standards
The USDA has announced a controversial proposal, with absolutely no input from consumers, to allow 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the “USDA Organic” seal. Most of the ingredients are food colorings derived from plants that are supposedly not “commercially available” in organic form. But at least three of the proposed ingredients, backed by beer giant Anheuser-Busch and pork and food processors, represent a serious threat to organic standards, and have raised the concerns of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), as well as a number of smaller organic companies and organic certifiers.
More at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsOR...
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Canada’s Oil and Gas Industries 1997 to 2006
A growing demand for energy, coupled with an increase in prices, has led to consistent growth in Canada’s oil and gas sector during the past 10 years, according to a new study.
The study, published in the online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income, analyzes economic activity in three components of the sector—upstream, midstream and downstream—as well as trends in employment between 1997 and 2006.
More at http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070523/d070523c....
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Food Consumption in Canada 2006
Canadians are eating more cereal products, yogurt, pork, beef and poultry on a per capita basis, according to the 2006 snapshot of food available for consumption.
On the other hand, they prefer less milk and sugar, and fewer oils, fats and vegetables in their diet. The amount of other key products available for consumption, such as eggs, fish, cheese and fresh fruits has remained stable in general.
More at http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070528/d070528c....
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You may be able to write off your health-care costs. Check out the HANS ADVANTAGE at www.hans.org
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3) MEDIA WATCH
US Prepares to Publish Dietary Supplement GMPs
http://www.ffnmag.com/ASP/articleDisplay.asp?strArti...
More Canadians Choosing Alternative Therapies Despite Having to Pay Their Own Way
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2007/2...
Chelation Heart Treatment on Trial in Ottawa
Scientists Urge Half of Canada Forest Be Protected
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12765
Climate Change: A Guide for the Perplexed
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn...
Biofuels, the Basics
http://eartheasy.com/article_biofuels.htm
Manual Lawn Mowers Are Making a Comeback
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12845
Film Stars and their “Green” Credentials
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12811
Consumer Fervor Driving the Organic Foods Market in Canada, Survey Finds
http://www.freepressreleases.co.uk/Press_Releases/Bu.../
Retail Sales of Certified Organic Food Products in Canada in 2006
http://www.oacc.info/Docs/RetailSalesOrganic_Canada2...
Organic Farming Booming in Canada, Agriculture Census Suggests
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.htm...
Organic Versus Local
http://grist.org/advice/ask/2002/11/26/umbra-organic...
Greens Call for Organic PEI
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/peivotes2007/story/2007/05/...
GMO Labeling and Advertising Under Codex
http://www.ffnmag.com/ASP/articleDisplay.asp?strArti...
Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/DSOM.php
Cancer Risks from Microwaves Confirmed
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/CRFMC.php
Integrated Care Gives Cancer Patients Hope
http://www.straight.com/article-91168/integrated-car...
Catastrophic Bee Colony Collapse Not Affecting Organic Hives
http://www.organicconsumers.org/bees.cfm
Mobile Phones and Vanishing Birds
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/MPVB.php
Cancer Doctors Paid for Prescribing Dubious Drugs, Part 1
http://www.cancerdecisions.com/052007.html
Cancer Doctors Paid for Prescribing Dubious Drugs, Part II
http://www.cancerdecisions.com/052707.html
For more current stories, check out “News” at www.hans.org.
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3) CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Battle of the Bulge - Retain, Regain or Maintain Your Proper Body Shape
Who: Professional Duo of Janis Gordienko and The Herblady
When: Sunday, June 3, 1pm
Where: Coyote Creek, 7778 152nd Street, Surrey, BC
Cost: $20 includes your personal workbook
Contact: Barb Bakke at 604-272-5544
E-mail: abthealth@shaw.ca
Learn the story of how body shaping originated. Determine your specific metabolic body shape. Learn which foods best suit your body frame. Determine which supplements are best for you. Learn which exercise is most appropriate for you. Learn why most diets don’t work.
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Buteyko Breathing Seminar
Who: Christine Bryne-Ralphs, Certified Buteyko Breathing Practitioner and Author of Stop Asthma Naturally
When: Tuesday, June 5 7-9 pm or Wednesday, June 6 1-2 pm
Where: South Arm Community Centre, 8880 Williams Road, Richmond (Between Garden City and #3 Rd)
Cost: FREE
Contact: 604-723-0479
The Buteyko Method was developed by medical professor Konstantin Buteyko in 1962. His discovery was that asthma, allergies, sleep apnea, sinus, snoring and other respiratory conditions are caused by low levels of carbon dioxide in our alveolar.
He developed clinically proven, safe, simple breathing exercises to correct this, thus reversing asthma and other conditions and eliminating the need for drugs. Certified Buteyko practitioner Christine Byrne-Ralfs trained in Europe and is one of the few people outside Russia to be certified by the original Buteyko Clinic in Moscow. Buteyko holds a 95 percent success rate. Visit www.asthmacare.ca or www.buteyko.ca for more info.
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Organic Food Certification
Who: Dag Falck
When: Wednesday, June 6, 7 pm
Where: University Women's Club, 1489 McRae Ave. Vancouver
Cost: Donation
Contact: 604-731-4661
E-mail: admin_uwc@telus.net
Dag Falck, who has 14 years of experience in organic food certification, will explain the importance of growing organic and outline the process of certifying food.
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The Business of Selling Wellness
Who: Anne Melnyk of Red Path Coaching Inc and Anita Lawrence of Spiritdance Counseling Services
When: Thursday June 7, 7 to 9:30 pm
Where: Coast Tsawwassen Hotel, 1665 - 56th Street Tsawwassen, BC
Cost: $25
Contact: Anne Melnyk at 604-943-1342
E-mail: anne@redpathcoaching.ca
Web: www.redpathcoaching.ca/sellingwellness
This is a not-to-be-missed learning and networking opportunity for alternative and complementary health practitioners. It’s an opportunity to introduce your services and to build strategic relationships with practitioners from many different fields. Our keynote address, The Business of Selling Wellness, addresses common concerns that healing professionals face as they bridge the gap between healing and building a successful private practice. Register now as seating is limited!
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Energy Healing for Cancer
Who: Ryan Carnahan, RMT, DCH
When: Three Evening Series June 11, 18, 25 7:30 – 9 pm
Where: Port Moody (TBA)
Cost: $120
Contact: 604-931-5513
E-mail: info@ryancarnahan.com
Web: www.ryancarnahan.com
In this three-part series, learn how to heal yourself with energy using the approach that Denis Chagnon used to heal himself of terminal cancer. Learn why the body gets sick and what is needed to transform sickness into health. Discover how emotions affect the body physically and energetically and how you can clear the blocked emotions that are stored in your body. You will come away with a step-by-step practice that you can use in your recovery of cancer or as prevention.
This is an introductory workshop for everyone and is open to those without cancer as well. Class size is limited.
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Biopro Vancouver Event
Who: Dr Howard Fisher, internationally renowned Canadian researcher and lecturer
When: June 15
Where: Executive Inn Pavilion Room 4201 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby
Cost: Free
Contact: Camille Bowling at 604-761-6095
E-mail: cbriches@MyBIOPRO.com
Web: www.MyBIOPRO.ca/SilentPower
Dr Howard Fisher is on a mission to educate and enlighten the world about the toxic factors that exist in our environment and their direct relationship to our health. In addition to authoring seven health books, his research has been published in peer-reviewed journals.
His common sense approach to explaining the impact of our environmental factors to the health of the world makes it easy for his audience to make informed choices towards bettering their lives.
His new book, The Invisible Threat: The Risks Associated with EMFs, exposes daily risks we face from electromagnetic fields and offers viable solutions to decrease the risk of disease.
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The Cause and Natural Healing of Breast Cancer
Who: Caroline Markolin, PhD, approved German New Medicine teacher
When: June 28, 7:15 - 9:45 pm
Where: Best Western Sands Hotel, Banquet Room, 1755 Davie St. (x Denman), West End
Cost: 20.00 at the door; Registration not necessary
Contact: 604-681-2474
Web: www.germannewmedicine.ca
Within the context of an introduction to German New Medicine, this special topic presentation will address questions like: what kind of emotional distress causes a tumor growth in the breast glands (glandular breast cancer) or in the milk-ducts (ductal breast cancer)? What is the significance and biological purpose of the tumor? Why does a tumor develop in the right or in the left breast (or both)? Why is breast cancer the most common cancer in women? Why are bone cancer and lung cancer the most secondary cancers? Both the therapeutic and preventive aspect of German New Medicine - and of breast cancer in particular – will be covered in great detail.
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Founded in 1984, Health Action Network Society is a membership-based, non-profit charitable organization dedicated to gathering and disseminating health promotion information.