Health minister defends new powers to pull products off shelves

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland said Wednesday he needs new powers to unilaterally take dangerous products off the shelves if they're hurting people and are not being used as intended.

Holland is defending provisions in the government's budget bill, which will allow the minister to put conditions on the sale, advertising, manufacture and importation of health products if he believes they are being used off-label and could be harmful.

«We need to be able to have the powers to act quickly, so that when (tobacco companies) slink out of some new hole… we can play whack-a-mole with them as fast as their lawyers create new loopholes,» Holland said.

The minister called for the powers in response to the sale of nicotine pouches, which are placed between the user's gums and lip.

The Imperial Tobacco version, Zonnic, was approved by Health Canada as an aid to quit smoking. Holland alleges young people are using it, causing a generation of people to get addicted to nicotine.

The Consumer Choice Centre, an advocacy group with loose ties to the tobacco industry, is warning about the potential for ministerial abuse with the new provisions.

The organization, which previously has accepted funding from the tobacco industry, says future health ministers could ban other health products for political gain without definitive proof that they actually hurt people.

The group's North American affairs manager, David Clement, pointed to birth control as an example of a product that could theoretically be restricted in the future.

He suggested that if a woman used birth control to regulate her hormones or help control her acne and suffered an adverse effect, such as a blood clot, the minister would have licence to restrict access to the medication.

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