Repeal NHP drug-equivalence rules
Petitioners ask the Government to repeal sections 500–504 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2023 so natural health products are not regulated like therapeutic chemical drugs. The government responds that the changes protect safety via licensing and oversight, enable cost recovery, and will be amended for labelling flexibility and reduced burden.
Why we would sign this petition
- Removes regulatory changes petitioners say will raise costs and limit access to commonly used supplements, preserving affordability and availability for concerned consumers.
- Protects the Canadian natural health product industry from rules petitioners view as inappropriate or burdensome, reducing compliance costs and potential harm to businesses.
- Keeps a distinct, lighter regulatory regime for lower‑risk products, as petitioners argue, avoiding the application of full pharmaceutical standards to NHPs.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Maintains oversight the government says prevents unsafe, contaminated or mislabeled products from reaching consumers, protecting public health.
- Preserves licensing and site inspections the government cites to verify safety, efficacy and manufacturing practices, aiding recalls and vigilance.
- Retains a framework that allows partial cost recovery and planned regulatory amendments for labelling flexibility and tailored post‑market vigilance rather than removing oversight entirely.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA Whereas: At a time when natural health products (NHPs) are already expensive, the Liberal government has decided to subject them to the same regulations as therapeutic chemical drugs; This unnecessary decision jeopardises Canadians' access to NHPs, threatens the Canadian natural health product industry, and makes the supplements and vitamins Canadians rely on more costly; and Natural health products had already been appropriately regulated prior to the Liberals' regulatory changes. As such, it is clear that this new red tape is about giving more power to Ottawa, not protecting Canadians. We, the undersigned residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to repeal sections 500 to 504 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, formerly known as Bill C-47, so that NHPs are no longer regulated in the same manner as therapeutic chemical drugs.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Health Signed by Maggie Chi Our government understands that many Canadians use natural health products daily to support and maintain their health, and they expect that the products they are using are safe, effective, and high quality. Our government also recognizes that natural health products are generally lower risk than conventional pharmaceuticals, which is why they are regulated under the Natural Health Products Regulations, which is a separate and distinct regulatory framework from pharmaceutical drugs. However, natural health products can still pose risks to the health and wellbeing of Canadians if those products are contaminated, mislabeled, or misused. Recall and safety notices for natural health products are available online, and a review of that list highlights how widely-used natural health products can be unsafe, and demonstrates the need for Health Canada to maintain oversight. This is why natural health products must be licensed by Health Canada to verify they meet requirements for safety, efficacy and quality, and the sites that manufacture, package, label or import NHPs must be licensed to verify that appropriate good manufacturing practices standards are followed. The changes to Vanessa’s Law by the previous government were introduced to reflect the evolving nature of the natural health product marketplace. These changes support Canadians in making informed health decisions, while also protecting the reputations of the vast majority of natural health product companies that are committed to providing safe, high quality products. Additionally, the new regulations ensure that the regulatory activities associated with natural health products are no longer fully funded by Canadian taxpayers by allowing Health Canada to recoup a portion of the cost of the services it provides to industry, such as evaluating applications for products before they are authorized for sale, and monitoring these products once they are on the market. While the updates to Vanessa’s Law enable Health Canada to remove unsafe products from the marketplace if a company refuses to do so voluntarily, these new authorities are only to be used if a serious risk to health is identified and if a company refuses to cooperate with voluntary measures. That is, there are no implications on companies with compliant and safe products. Additionally, the authorities included in Budget Implementation Act, 2024, also give the Minister of Heath the ability respond in a tailored way to specific issues that arise. This authority was used in March 2025 to give companies additional time to comply with new NHP labelling requirements, which was welcomed by industry. The Ministerial Exemption Order provides an additional three years, until June 2028, for companies to bring products into compliance with the new labelling requirements. Our government understands that not all of the challenges faced by natural health product companies can be addressed through additional time, which is why the Department has committed to making changes to the Natural Health Product Regulations as part of its response to the Government’s Red Tape Review initiative. On September 8, 2025, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada published a red tape reduction report, which indicates that the Department will: Amend the natural health product regulations to make the labelling requirements more flexible; Introduce a simple pre-market registration process for products with a higher degree of certainty, such as those aligned with an approved Health Canada monograph; Introduce more flexible post-market vigilance requirements tailored to the level of risk; and Review the cost recovery regime once regulatory amendments and program adjustments have been completed.