Increases in exposure calls related to selected cleaners and disinfectants at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: data from Canadian poison centres. / Augmentation du nombre d'appels relatifs à une exposition à certains nettoyants et désinfectants au début de la pandémie de COVID-19 : données des centres antipoison canadiens.

Little is known about the use or misuse of cleaning products during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compiled data from January to June in 2019 and 2020 from Canadian poison centres, and report on calls regarding selected cleaning products and present year-overyear percentage change. There were 3408 (42%) calls related to bleaches; 2015 (25%) to hand sanitizers; 1667 (21%) to disinfectants; 949 (12%) to chlorine gas; and 148 (2%) to chloramine gas. An increase in calls occurred in conjunction with the onset of COVID-19, with the largest increase occurring in March. Timely access to Canadian poison centre data facilitated early communication of safety messaging for dissemination to the public.

The Canadian Surveillance System for Poison Information (CSSPI) led by Health Canada is a developing network of poison centres, health authorities and regulatory agencies that facilitates early detection of poisoning incidents and alerting at the national level to inform harm reduction interventions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns were raised over the potential for misuse of cleaning products and disinfectants; the CSSPI network monitored and assessed these concerns. An overall increase in calls about select cleaning products and disinfectants occurred concurrently with the pandemic, with percentage increases for selected products as high as 400% compared to the same period in the previous year.

Le Système canadien de surveillance des données sur les intoxications (SCSDI), dirigé par Santé Canada, est un réseau en développement composé de centres antipoison, d'autorités sanitaires et d'organismes de réglementation, qui facilite la détection précoce des incidents d'empoisonnement et une alerte rapide au niveau national afin d'éclairer les interventions en matière de réduction des risques. En réponse à la pandémie de COVID-19, des préoccupations ayant émergé quant au risque de mauvaise utilisation de produits de nettoyage et de désinfectants, le SCSDI a surveillé et évalué ces préoccupations. Une augmentation globale du nombre d'appels concernant plusieurs produits de nettoyage et désinfectants a eu lieu en concomitance avec la pandémie, certaines augmentations pouvant atteindre jusqu'à 400 % pour certains produits par rapport à la même période de l'année précédente.

Regulation of natural health products in Canada.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE/INTRODUCTION: In Canada, all natural health products (NHPs) are regulated by Health Canada (HC) under the Food and Drugs Act and the Natural Health Product Regulations. All authorized products undergo pre-market assessment for safety, efficacy and quality and the degree of pre-market oversight varies depending on the risk of the product. OVERVIEW: In Canada, over 70,000 products have been authorized for sale and over 2000 sites have been licensed to produce NHPs. In the management of NHPs on the Canadian market, HC employs a number of active and collaborative methods to address the most common issues such as contamination, adulteration and deceptive or misleading advertising practices. HC is currently evolving its approaches to NHPs to recognize them as part of the larger group of health products available without a prescription. As such, the regulatory responsibility for all over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, including non-prescription drugs and NHPs, has been transferred to a single federal division. CONCLUSION: As a result of this transition a number of benefits are being realized with respect to government efficiency, clarity for industry, support for new innovations and consolidated government interactions with the Canadian market.