“Wellness” as Incipient Illness: Dietary Supplements in a Biomedical Culture

In the spring of 2008, the Canadian government introduced to Parliament a bill that sought to increase Health Canada’s power to enforce already standing legislation regarding the safety of foods, cosmetics, and “therapeutic products,” a new legislative category encompassing drugs, medical devices, and human cells, tissues, and organs. The bill, known as Bill C-51, would have articulated clearer guidelines in Canada’s Food and Drugs Act for licensing, inspection, clinical testing (when relevant), and post-market monitoring, along with increased penalties for violations. C-51 represented not a change of course in Canadian health policy but an effort to add bite to previously “toothless” regulations that provide consumer protection (Picard). The bill appeared poised to pass the first reading in Parliament and eventually become law; however, to the surprise of many, it instead ignited a firestorm of debate in Canada about the rights of individuals, both as patients (i.e., recipients of medical interventions) and as consumers (i.e., choosers of interventions, as if from a menu of services).