Feds want to restrict traditional cures

Doctors of Chinese medicine are gearing up to fight a controversial federal government bill they claim would make many natural health products unavailable.

If passed, Bill C-51 would require all natural medicine and herbs to pass Western-style scientific testing before being approved for sale in Canada. It could make it harder to import and sell the products or make some of them only available by prescription. The bill is scheduled for second reading in the House of Commons this fall.

"We support some regulation, but we're definitely against C-51," Traditional Chinese Medicine Association of B.C. president Peter Wood said yesterday. "It will have a huge impact."

Traditional medicines such as these may face new restrictions in Canada.

Wood said traditional medicine focuses on the whole person, rather than a single symptom, to determine a course of treatment that will be effective. If a herb is scientifically tested for its effect on one symptom across a large cross-section of people, it may not prove effective for everyone.

"Traditional medicine cannot be tested the same way as pharmaceuticals," explained Wood.

TCM Association director Avery Yackel said he supports some regulation to ensure products are not mislabelled, but believes products with a "1,000-year track record should not be treated the same as products [like new pharmaceutical drugs] with no track record."

TCM Association of B.C. has joined with associations in Alberta and Ontario to protest the proposed bill, which federal Health Minister Tony Clement has previously defended, saying it would allow the government to better monitor product safety.

New Westminster acupuncturist Viktor Nedelchev said he sees a need to regulate the purity of ingredients, but he's against scientific testing.

But New Westminster practitioner Jess Bown said she's not worried. "I'm not fretting because I think it's so absurd that if it becomes law they're going to have to change it back."

Glenda Luymes, The Province

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008

gluymes@png.canwest.com