Hair Restoration Adverts Might Be Coming to Canada
They will if some lobbyists have their way. From this National Post article, comes news of the debate surrounding proposed changes to Canada’s Food and Drug Act.
At the centre of the debate sits that strange list of diseases known as Schedule A. It was first compiled by Parliament in 1908 as part of the Proprietary or Patent Medicine Act, in an effort to stop snake-oil salesmen from peddling “cures” for certain diseases to a gullible public.
In 1934, Schedule A was added to the Food and Drugs Act for the same reason. It has been changed slightly in the years since, but never completely overhauled.
It is often portrayed as a list of serious diseases that cannot and should not be treated except under the direction of a physician hence the ban on advertising medicines for those diseases directly to the public.
But in fact, Schedule A is an irrational list that includes such life-threatening maladies as heart disease, cancer and dysentery; but also minor conditions like alopecia, or hair loss, and “nausea and vomiting of pregnancy,” commonly known as morning sickness.
Canadian law currently prohibits marketing aimed at the general public any treatments for conditions listed on this mysterious Schedule A. It sounds like the law could use an overhaul. Medicine has certainly changed in the hundred years since the list was first compiled, probably more than a tweak here and there.
But then again, perhaps I’m just a bitter American who wants my neighbors to the north to wade thru the same piles of medical advertising that I have to. If I have to watch former Senator and Presidential candidate Bob Dole stump for Viagra, Canadians should be forced to see Paul Martin hawk Rogaine.
You want American culture? You got it! The good AND the bad.
Tags: advertising, bob-dole, canada, food-and-drug-act, hair-restoration, paul-martin, proprietary-or-patent-medicine-act, rogaine, schedule-a, viagraRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Names & News
.gif)
0 opinions for Hair Restoration Adverts Might Be Coming to Canada
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: