Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies: pharmacy regulators http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?

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Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies: pharmacy regulators http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2534645

Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies:

pharmacy regulators
Tom Blackwell, National Post
Published: Sunday, February 07, 2010

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Jean-Yves Dionne

Gerry Harrington

National Association of Pharmacy

Regulatory Authorities

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National Post
The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) says
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pharmacists cannot be assured the products are safe until they are granted a
government licence
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Makers of natural-health products say they are bracing Print this story
for widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses
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after Canada's pharmacy regulators issued a surprise
directive recently urging druggists to stop selling Share This Story
unlicensed natural remedies.
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The order affects thousands of herbal treatments, multi- Digg

vitamins and other products, most of them waiting for LinkedIn

approval from Health Canada under a backlogged, More

five-year-old program to regulate natural-health goods.

The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) says

pharmacists cannot be assured the products are safe until they are granted a
government licence, and should not sell them in those circumstances. "Pharmacists are
obliged to hold the health and safety of the public or patient as their first and foremost
consideration," said the association's recently issued position statement.

Representatives of the natural health industry, however, have reacted angrily to the
directive issued last month, predicting it will have little impact on patient safety, while
triggering an economic "crisis" for their members.

"We are talking about job loss, we are talking about a lot of income loss, we are talking
about product stuck in warehouses that cannot be sold," Jean-Yves Dionne, a
spokesman for the Canadian Health Food Association, said in an interview.

A statement issued by the association calls the directive self-serving and contrary to
federal government policy.

"It has taken a sledge hammer to a finishing nail," the group said. "It will create
confusion for consumers. It is the wrong thing to do."

NAPRA is comprised of representatives of the provincial colleges of pharmacy that

regulate the profession. It is now up to the individual provinces to implement the
statement. The Ontario and Quebec colleges have already done so, with Ontario
pressing pharmacists to not buy or order any more of the affected products, and its
neighbour pushing for druggists to also remove unlicensed product already on their
shelves, Mr. Dionne said.

Pharmacies, as surprised by the directive as anyone, are caught in the middle, said Jeff
Poston of the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

"One of the questions that everybody is asking in the pharmacy world is, ‘Why now?'

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Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies: pharmacy regulators http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2534645

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