Canadian Government Proposes Major Changes to Food and Drugs Act

On April 8, 2008, the government introduced a new Bill, C-51, which proposes to make extensive changes to the Food and Drugs Act and other corresponding legislation. The changes would include a complete repeal of all schedules to the Food and Drugs Act (including Schedule "A", which prohibits all claims to certain serious conditions and diseases), increased recall powers and higher penalties, a tremendous increase in regulation making authority, an apparent removal of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising ban, and, less controversially, the wholesale modernization of the drug, device and food approval regime. Given the minority status of the Conservative government, the fact that this bill has only received first reading and has not yet been studied by committees, it is difficult to know whether the changes proposed in Bill C-51 will become law. The text of Bill C-51 is available at: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3398126 The Food and Drugs Act is available at: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-27/ Summary by: Gordon Jepson