Health Canada has a page on homeopathy! They’re proud to announce:
- “Health Canada has approved more than 8,500 homeopathic products.”
- “Health Canada is proposing changes to the labelling and evidence requirements for homeopathic products […] September 24, 2021”
- “These products are generally low-risk.”
- “Health Canada reviews homeopathic products to make sure that they are safe and that the health claims (what the product claims to do) are supported by textbooks and other references used in the practice of homeopathy”
- “[M]any homeopathic products are available in stores and are placed next to non-prescription drugs. This has led to confusion for some consumers, who may be looking for a non-prescription drug but pick up a homeopathic product instead.”
Minister of Health
Our current Minister of Health is Jean-Yves Duclos. If you’re upset that Health Canada isn’t doing anything, you could try emailing him here, or possibly doing some Facebook thing here. (My emails so far remain unanswered).
My emails were answered after quite a number of months by “Director General” of “Natural and Non-Prescription Drugs Directorate” Natalie Page, who says
Health Canada has licensed homeopathic products for many years, and they are presently authorized under the Natural Health Products Regulations, which came into force in 2004. The objective of these regulations are to balance the desire of Canadians for a broader range of self-care products while ensuring appropriate safety and quality standards. Health Canada uses evidence submitted by applicants to critically assess the safety, efficacy and quality of natural health products, prior to approving them for sale in Canada.
Natalie Page, via email
The safety of these products I have little concern for, as unless they go mouldy it’s literally water. As for efficacy however…
Licensed Natural Health Products Database (LNHPD)
Products with a licence have been assessed by Health Canada and found to be safe, effective and of high quality under their recommended conditions of use.
Health Canada
This LNHPD claim is a lie; they obviously haven’t assessed any homeopathic items to be effective. On the above-linked Homeopathy page, Health Canada is careful to say instead:
Health Canada reviews homeopathic products to make sure that they are safe and that the health claims (what the product claims to do) are supported by textbooks and other references used in the practice of homeopathy (e.g., pharmacopoeia, Materia medica).
Health Canada
Note that here they say that the health claims must exist in other references – for example if I write a reference website about healing crystals, then so long as my advertising for quadrotriticalite pendants has the same baloney as in my website, it’s fine. Speaking of which, why does homeopathy get it’s own government health page and database, and healing crystals doesn’t? That doesn’t seem fair to pick and choose which bullshit scam medicine you’re going to governmentally endorse.
Additionally, the approved texts for homeopathy are all (of course) written, edited, and sold by homeopathic practitioners. I was interested to read for myself the criteria by which one may ingest lead tablets for medical benefits, but I’m unwilling to pay the hundreds of dollars they’re asking. (The government has given them my tax dollars though).