Illegal ads putting Canadians at risk
OFFENDERS: Documents show misleading health promotion laws are routinely being ignored
Laws meant to protect Canadians from misleading promotion of health products are violated routinely, with natural health companies, cosmetic surgery clinics and even a public hospital among numerous offenders, newly divulged federal records indicate.
Health Canada has lifted the lid on its enforcement actions in the area for the first time, posting a list of 152 advertising infractions it looked into over an 11-month period.
The document suggests companies regularly breach the rules, though none in the past year has actually been prosecuted.
“Health Canada takes immediate action in areas where advertising poses a high risk to the health and safety of Canadians,” said Eric Morrissette, a spokesman for the department.
But the first approach is to get the perpetrator to voluntarily comply — without charges — “which Health Canada achieves in virtually all cases,” he said.
The list includes cases from October 2014 to this past September, providing the name of the company and product involved, and a terse description of the offence.
The most common breaches involved natural health companies asserting that products ranging from harp seal oil to olive leaf powder and shark cartilage could treat serious ailments.
Even the Shopping Channel was taken to task for making unauthorized claims made in the ads for products like Vitatree Cold/Flu and Immune formula. The homeopathic product Influenzium was the subject of several investigations for promotion of unauthorized claims.
The regulator has barred companies from suggesting that homeopathic remedies — massively diluted solutions with molecular amounts of active ingredients — can prevent infectious diseases.
But as recently as Wednesday, at least one Canadian company, Abaco Health of Kelowna, was still promoting Influenzium online as “your best choice as a flu preventive,” and “highly effective to prevent the flu.”
As well, several doctors and private clinics were chastised by Health Canada for flogging Botox injections, despite a ban on advertising any such prescription drug to consumers.