HEALTH COACH - Unproven homeopathic remedies for children continue to elicit relief despite new rules of etiquette - Health

HEALTH COACH -

 Unproven homeopathic remedies for children continue to elicit relief despite new rules of etiquette - Health  

  Marketplace  exposed how Health Canada approves remedies for homeopathic children who promise relief without any scientific evidence to back up claims on their labels, the promised repression By the government is difficult to spot on the shelves of pharmacies. 

  In the episode that was aired in March 2015,  CBC journalists created a cure for fever and pain for children called Nighton (anagram for "nothing"). They applied for a license from Health Canada using only a few photocopied pages of a homeopathic reference book printed in 1902 to prove that the product would provide effective relief for fever, pain and inflammation in children . 

  This is all it took for Health Canada to approve these claims for the Nighton label.  









  Health Canada license for natural remedies a joke &  2:00 





  Under fire after the release, Health Canada issued a safety alert advising consumers that it was introducing new labeling rules for certain homeopathic products intended for children.  

  "Health Canada no longer allows companies to make specific health claims ... for coughs, colds and flu for children under 12 unless these claims are supported by Scientific evidence ".  

  Health Canada stated that it was making the change since "the current labeling on some products may not provide Canadians with the information they need to make informed choices"  

  But two years later, little changed.  

  Manufacturers were given until March 31, 2017 to ensure that their labels meet the new standard. But an informal poll   of several pharmacies in Toronto and Vancouver in the last week of April found that only one of the four largest brands (Hyland & # 39; s, Homeocan, Similasan and Boiron) did. 

 Many products still make the same old promises - all with Health Canada approval stamp on their label. 

  And messages about the only brand that has been changed - The product of Bronx's Stodal cough for children - do not reflect what Health Canada promised first.   Marketplace  has learned that following its safety advice, Health Canada has consulted the homeopathic industry to develop the new rules. 
 Entering the industry 

  CBC News received a letter from the Canadian Association of Homeopathic Medicine sent six months ago to Manon Bombardier, Executive Director of Health Canada's Natural and Unsafe Health Products Directorate, Which outlined the association's concerns about the new labeling requirements and its communication with Health Canada and the changes to which it says the two parties have agreed.  

  According to the new rules, some products for children under 12 years can still indicate the intended use of the repair, such as cough, cold or flu, but can not contain words Such as "relief" and "effective". They should also include the following statement: "This claim is based on traditional homeopathic references and not on modern scientific evidence."  


 The respirologist, Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, says there must be a" better separation between scientific products and products that are not based on The science. "(CBC) 



  The respirologist, Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, of the West Toronto Hospital, who participated in the story   Marketplace  claims that changes to labels Are "significantly lower than those the government has caused the public to believe is happening." 


  "And these are half-measures that the government has taken in response to a public outcry. They do not go far enough," he said. "We need a better separation between scientific products and products that are not based on science."  
 Always a problem & # 39; 

  He said that exemption products promising relief from fever is particularly "worrying".  

  "A fever may indicate a serious infection that requires medical treatment or that you can lock yourself up or die, which of course sometimes happens."  

 The former packaging of Stodal's cough remedy from Boiron, left, and the new version, which stipulates that claiming the" Label is not based on "modern scientific evidence," In accordance with the new Health Canada (CBC) labeling rules 



  Stanbrook has reviewed the label on Stodal cough by Boiron, the unique brand   Marketplace  may find that follows the new rules. 
  "You have small impressions down that most people would probably not see." You know, the biggest text on this issue is "coughing." This is for coughing. Average will probably see nothing more than it relieves the cough, "he said.  


  "For the average person who is just looking for a cough syrup, there is no way to tell the difference between this and dextromethorphan, which is a real drug. So always a problem. "  
  Many consumers are unaware that homeopathic products are different from other natural health products and over-the-counter drugs. A survey conducted by Health Canada in July 2016 found that 95% Of Canadians were not able to correctly identify what homeopathy means - the use of minimal doses of substances that cause disease to treat a disease.  

 
 When CBC audited several pharmacies in Vancouver and Toronto in the last week of April, she found that Boiron was a Of companies that had changed its children The labeling of cough syrup, but some other brands have not yet made the change, which was supposed to have been put in place by the end of March (CBC) 



  The same survey found that two-thirds of Canadians believe that products that promise to do the same as over-the-counter pharmaceuticals require the same level of evidence from the manufacturer to support their claim.  
  Shannon Hutchinson of Brampton, Ontario, recently bought a popular product for homeopathic cough for her one year old daughter. She said that she chose it because she prefers "natural" products, but had no idea that homeopathic remedies do not require the same level of Scientific evidence that over-the-counter drugs show that they are effective.  

  "I would think that they are both if they are both sold in the same section," she said.