Updated: Fri Nov. 13 2009 17:23:44

ctvcalgary.ca

Makers and sellers of natural health products are worried about an application backlog.

Starting in April, all vitamins and herbal medicines sold in Canada have to have a natural product number (NPN).

Makers of natural health products have known since 2004 that the changes were coming. But it seems getting applications in early hasn't done much good.

"40,000 applications are in place currently and since 2004 there have been just 16,000 approvals," says Liam Muzichuk, the manager at Community Natural Foods.

The decision to grant an NPN is largely based on how a product is labeled.

The government wants companies to support health claims with sufficient scientific proof, or remove the line from the product's packaging.

To date, Health Canada has approved just 40 percent of natural product applications.

That has at least one natural health product company saying the government is being too picky.

"They are being too conservative, they are dragging their feet and being too slow," says Keith Karimitsos from AOR vitamins, a Calgary based vitamin manufacturer.

Karimitsos says his company is wading through mountains of paperwork to get licences for nearly 200 products that are already being sold in Canada.

"We have filed close to 167 or 178 applications and we have seen 41 approved so far," says Karimitsos.

Health Canada says the licencing process is an ongoing task and the concerns are unwarranted.

Officials say they are trying to tackle the application backlog and the April 2010 deadline is not written into law.

A public information session about the upcoming changes will be held on Monday, November 16th between 7pm and 9pm. It will take place at the Calgary Jewish Community Centre which is located at 1607 90 Avenue S.W.