Health Canada won't crack down on unlicensed natural health products for sale in Canada for at least another year, despite recent assurances that a new compliance plan would kick in soon.
The news, delivered privately to industry insiders at Health Canada workshops over the last two weeks, comes after Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq assured parliamentarians earlier this fall that the government was on track to clear a product licensing backlog by March 2010 and implement "a compliance strategy for 2010."
Health Canada reaffirmed Tuesday that the department is on target to meet the March deadline. But in workshops officials told industry representatives not to worry about that date.
Health Canada's current policy allows companies to sell unlicensed natural health products, provided they've submitted a product licence application with Health Canada's natural health product directorate and the department is not aware of any health risk associated with the product.
Natural health products include teas, vitamins, mineral supplements, herbal products, exotic substances and several novel foods and drinks.
Overall, of the nearly 42,000 product licence applications received since 2004, Health Canada says the directorate has completed about 73 per cent of the applications.
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