OTTAWA—Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is defending Health Canada in the wake of a Star investigation that found children on attention deficit drugs may be suffering worrisome side effects .

Aglukkaq signalled no plans to change procedures, despite a chorus of concerns that Canadians need to be better informed about reports of side effects suspected to have been caused by their prescription drugs.

Instead, she says parents worried about the potential side effects attention deficit drugs have on their children should be talking more to their doctors and checking Health Canada’s website.

A Toronto Star investigation found a growing number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and parents reporting that they believe attention-deficit drugs are causing major health problems in patients, many as young as 6 and 7 years old.

However, Health Canada, which collects these adverse reaction reports, does not alert the public to the magnitude of these side effects. This is because the regulator has not analyzed the data it collects.

But Aglukkaq said she was concerned about the “incomplete information” in the newspaper and defended the Health Canada drug review as one of the “most rigorous” in the world.

“No drug is put out on the market without rigorous review,” Aglukkaq said Wednesday.

She also said that Canadians taking prescription drugs should be taking steps to better inform themselves about the potential effects.

“One of the things we also do is put any information that we do have on any drugs on our website so Canadians and families can make informed decisions on any product that they are receiving from their physicians,” she said.

“We also try to encourage Canadian families to ask questions of their physicians on any drug that is being prescribed to themselves as well as their children to make sure that they are clearly aware of any effects that product may have,” Aglukkaq said.

Asked whether the Star’s findings would prompt any move to disclose more information about side effects, the health minister suggested the federal department was already doing enough.

“No product is in the market unless it has gone through the rigorous process through Health Canada. All the effects and studies are posted on our website,” she said.

“I would encourage parents . . . to look at that, to ask the questions of their physicians on any product before their children take the prescription drugs.

“It’s important for us as parents to make informed decisions on the dosage as well as the effects it may have. So again I would encourage families to talk to their physicians on any products,” she said.

New Democratic Leader Thomas Mulcair called on Health Canada to work with the provinces and territories, as well as doctors and pharmacists, to come up with better guidelines for information about drug side effects.

“We have to be more proactive. We can’t just tell parents to go look at a website. Many parents are already overwhelmed,” Mulcair told reporters following the weekly NDP caucus meeting in Ottawa.

“For too long it has just been this massive bump on the rug because we’ve been trying to sweep it under the rug, but we have really got to come to grips with the fact that this is, in terms of health in Canada, it’s a huge issue that’s not being addressed sufficiently,” said Mulcair.

NDP MP Libby Davies, the health critic for her party, said Health Canada should not only follow up on reports of adverse drug reactions, but engage parents of children with ADHD to find ways to make that information meaningful to them.

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“I think Canadians want to have a level of confidence that Health Canada — the federal government, really — is not only watch-dogging what’s going on, but they are following up, that they are being proactive,” Davies said Wednesday.

“They need to engage with parents so that people have a measure of confidence. They shouldn’t feel that they are just alone, that they have got to follow up themselves . . . You’ve got to go beyond just putting information up on a website and saying, ‘Here, you go sort it out.’ I think people actually need guidance, support (and) help to figure out what these issues are about.

“At the end of the day, the outcome that you want is that parents feel like they have the best possible information to make what in some instances may be a very difficult decision about what they need to do and the federal government has got to be proactive in that process.”

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