After 2 years of pandemic, physical and mental fitness have become priority for many people. More and more people are planning to become healthier and are open to try new products that can help them to achieve their goals. This has led to an increase in the popularity of self care products. Self care products can be categorized into three different categories: Cosmetics, Natural health products and Non-prescription drugs. These products are available to customers and can be used without the direction from a health care provider.

It is very important to regulate these self care products so that the consumers are not misguided by the false claims of the sellers. These products fall under the Food and Drugs Act and they are regulated by the government of Canada in distinct ways. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified the regulation of self-care products as a key priority. Health Canada should be commended and supported in recognizing the importance of self-care.

The basic idea behind these regulations is that the consumers are provided with the full information about the product before they make a decision to purchase it. This can help the consumers to make informed choices. Further, Health care Canada have proposed a new system to regulate these products. In this new system, products would be categorised as being either lower, medium or higher risk self-care products. Categorisation would depend on such things as the type of claim being made and the ingredient it contains. in addition, Health Canada is also looking to create a more comprehensive and uniform approach to items such as recall provisions, authority to require labelling changes and cost recovery mechanisms.

Refrences

Canada, H. (2020, September 24). Government of Canada. Canada.ca. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/consultation-regulation-self-care-products/consulting-canadians-regulation-self-care-products-canada.html  

Nichini, M. (2019, July 3). Proposed regulation for self-care products in Canada: Impact on natural health products. ISURA. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://isura.ca/2017/04/06/proposed-regulation-self-care-products-canada-impact-natural-health-products/