A Health Canada compliance and enforcement specialist took the stand this week at the trial of a company accused of selling prescription erectile dysfunction drugs disguised as herbal sexual enhancements at sex shops in Burnaby, Richmond and Vancouver.
MFH International Enterprise Inc., the owner of multiple adult stores in the Lower Mainland, is on trial in Richmond provincial court for offences under the Food and Drugs Act, including the alleged "false, misleading and deceptive" labelling and sale of tadalafil (the active ingredient in Cialis) as an herbal sexual enhancement product called "Harmony."
MFH has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Unlabelled box of powder 'absolutely' suspicious
Earlier in the trial, the court heard that MFH's sole director Andy Zhang delivered unlabelled cardboard boxes with bags of powder inside to a Richmond manufacturing company to be put into capsules and blister packs.
On Thursday, Crown prosecutor Sharon Steele asked Health Canada compliance and enforcement specialist Shannon Day if she would find it "suspicious" if she was consulting with a business and it delivered a pre-blended powder to her in a box with no labelling.
"Absolutely," Day said. "Raw materials have to be labelled."
Steele took Day through regulations governing natural health products in Canada as well as the details of MFH's Health Canada product licence application for Harmony.
The application indicated Harmony was approved to contain six ingredients – all herbs or herbal extracts – and its approved recommended use or purpose didn’t include anything about sexual health or sexual enhancement.
Lack of health warnings 'most concerning'
When Steele asked Day to compare MFH's Harmony product licence application with Harmony packaging and labels seized at MFH stores, however, Day noted the labels claimed the product was a "virility booster" and the "best male enhancement."
"This product contains natural herbal ingredients for a strong tonic effect to help enhance men's sexual potency and performance," Day read on the box label.
"Those statements that you just listed from the packaging, in order to properly put those on the packaging, would they have had to include them in this licence application and have them pre-approved?" Steele asked.
"Yes," Day said.
"Most concerning," according to Day, is that health warnings approved in the Harmony product licence application were not printed anywhere on the box.
Company told Health Canada ingredients would be tested
Earlier in the trial, a Health Canada investigator told the court a box of Harmony obtained at the Love in Love store on Kingsway in Burnaby was found to contain more than three times the tadalafil found in a prescription dose of Cialis.
But documents produced in court Thursday showed MFH attested to Health Canada that the ingredients in Harmony would be tested to ensure the product contained only the six herbs and contained them in the quantities listed on the application, according to Day.
In her opening statement, Steele said the Crown expected its evidence would show "MFH was not only selling Harmony but it was their signature product that the company personally processed and labeled."
The defence has not yet mounted its case.
The trial was scheduled to resume Friday but has now been adjourned to Oct. 17.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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