Woodford Files

Wow, the Harper government has really stirred up a pot of trouble this time. Rarely have I seen health consumers as riled up as they are right now. For the past month, we’ve been receiving emails and phone calls daily from people angry about Bill C-51. What’s the big deal? Apparently, C-51 is the most significant threat to freedom of choice in healthcare that we’ve ever seen.

By proposing to merge natural health products and drugs into one big category, Bill C-51 would make health products subject to the same toxicity testing, prescription requirements, and enforcement procedures as drugs. This would in effect destroy the foundation upon which the health marketplace currently stands. For example, instead of walking into a neighbourhood health food store to pick up your favourite supplements, you’d have to get in line at the doctor’s office. Since standard physician training in nutritional medicine is almost nonexistent, your chances of getting an expert opinion aand/or a prescription for the supplements you need would be just about zero.

This month, Helke Ferrie focuses in on precisely what aspects of C-51 are most threatening, and includes a legal commentary from the lawyer who won the Truehope case. She also comments on corporate influences behind our federal politicians’ hostility toward natural health products, and how C-51 ties in with the dreaded Codex Alimentarius agenda that we had previously thought was dead in the water.

It’s intriguing to me that a government democratically elected by the Canadian people would have the audacity to introduce a Bill which does not represent the best interests of Canadians in any way. In fact, this proposed Bill seeks such tight control of natural health products that Health Canada could literally become a dictatorship.

The whole thing seems rather odd when one considers that those of us who keep ourselves well with generous doses of herbs, vitamins, and superfoods are also having a healthy impact on the economy. We don’t run up big costs for OHIP by occupying hospital beds or doctors’ offices, we support the many small and medium businesses that drive the health industry (which employs hundreds of thousands of people), and we pay for our supplements out of our own pockets. We get no tax breaks of any kind for taking charge of our own health, and yet we’re so committed to our favourite nutrients that we spend, on average, 20% of our monthly disposable income on them. So you’d think the government would at least recognize the economic benefits of our self-reliance, and encourage all Canadians to practice similar preventive health strategies.

Where then, is the logic behind removing our easy access to all the best nutrients? It’s not as if the feds can claim that natural health products are dangerous and therefore we need Bill C-51 to protect us. In fact, reported adverse reactions to natural health products are extremely rare in comparison with those of pharmaceuticals.

Which leaves one to wonder ... what is the real agenda behind Bill-C51 (and now Bill C-52)? Who stands to gain the most if these Bills are passed? It’s not us. Read on.

Helke's book on bills C-51 and 52, What Part of No! Don't They Understand? Rescuing Food and Medicine from Government Abuse - A Manifesto, will be available at OISE June 26th. It compiles and explains the relevant documents and provides a complete action for effective resistance.  Fifty percent of the proceeds are for legal and public activism efforts. www.kospublishing.com, 519-927-1049 (Kos office).

Julia Woodford