well regulated naturopathic medicine

Run Tona, Run

2008-07-24T16:56:00.001-05:00

Naturopathic legislative news from across the nation (The Daily Times, Maryville, TN) :

Candidate promoting questionable college degree

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

Tona Monroe-Ball, District 20 House of Representatives candidate, has been promoting herself as a doctor of naturopathic medicine. Evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

In recent weeks, Monroe-Ball has lobbied The Daily Times staff to describe her as a doctor during election coverage and has been addressed as such at recent candidate forums. Her candidate and business Web sites both describe her as a "naturopathic doctor."

Although state law does not prohibit anyone from simply calling themselves a doctor, even without being licensed, it does prohibit the practice of naturopathy, a philosophy of health that embraces alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and herbalism, used outside of normal medical care.

Tennessee Code Annotated 63-6-205 defines naturopathy as "the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human injuries, ailments and disease by the use of such physical forces, as air, light, water, vibration, heat, electricity, hydrotherapy, psychotherapy, dietetics or massage, and the administration of botanical and biological drugs."

Because of this prohibition, Monroe-Ball, who has not claimed to be a practitioner, has been relying on a degree, received in 2005, from Central States College of Health Sciences in Columbus, Ohio, to confirm her status. Closer investigation, however, raises questions about the legitimacy of the degree.

John Ware, executive director of the Ohio Board of Career Colleges and Schools, said the school did not have state authorization to issue degrees.

"They're not approved by this board," Ware said. "They're not approved by the Ohio Board of Regents. There was a lawsuit a couple years ago with this school and the Ohio Board of Regents about whether they should be offering degrees. My understanding is they weren't supposed to be."

When he founded CSCHS in 1994, Robert McKinney, the president of the school, resurrected a lapsed corporate charter that dated back to 1939. Attorneys for McKinney later argued in court that this exempted the school from needing certification because the college had technically been in existence prior to the effective date of the applicable state regulations, according to court records.

Court ruling

In 2005, a Franklin County, Ohio, court ruled that CSCHS was not authorized to issue degrees. This ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals of Ohio in 2007. According to Karen Doty, general counsel for the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear a further appeal.

"The Supreme Court declined to hear the case last March," Doty said. "We haven't heard from (CSCHS) since then."

Without authorization from the Board of Regents, degrees granted by CHCHS are not legally recognized in Ohio. Classes taken at the college would not even be transferable to other schools in Ohio.

"If we did not authorize it, then we would not recognize the degree," Doty said.

Whether CSCHS is still in operation is an open question. The college's Web site has not been updated since 2004. The phone number listed on the site is no longer in service.

CSCHS also never received accreditation from any agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. According to the department Web site, "accreditation is the process used in U.S. education to ensure that schools, postsecondary institutions, and other education providers meet and maintain, minimum standards of quality and integrity regarding academics, administration, and related services. It is a voluntary process based on the principle of academic self-governance. Both institutions and programs (faculties) within institutions participate in accreditation."

Monroe-Ball responds

In an e-mail to The Daily Times, Monroe-Ball argued that accreditation has nothing to do with the quality of education she received.

"All the recognition by the U.S. Department of Education does it qualify students for federal loan money," she wrote. "It means nothing in terms of educational standards. Thus, you've choose (sic) to set the basis of recognizing degrees around the ability of a school's students to received (sic) gov't money to go to school."

"... If you could give me a rational reason as to why the U.S. Department of Education is the gold standard for recognition, I am willing to listen. But instead you've choose (sic) to ignore the facts and fall in line with the 10th plank of the Communist Manifesto."

For reference's sake, in the 1888 Samuel Moore translation of the Communist Manifesto, the 10th point alluded to by Monroe-Ball reads: "Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc."

Quality control process

The U.S. Department of Education recognizes only one accrediting agency for naturopathic schools, the Massachusetts-based Council on Naturopathic Medical Education. During a telephone interview, the council's executive director, Daniel Seitz, called accreditation a quality control process.

"The federal government wants to make sure that educational programs that may be funded through federal taxpayer dollars are legitimate programs," Seitz said. "That is the primary consideration."

Further, Seitz said that accreditation does matter if a naturopath hopes to become a licensed practitioner. The 14 states that license naturopaths require a degree from an accredited institution.

"I can't comment on the quality of her training, but, by the virtue of attending an unaccredited institution, she would not be eligible to be licensed as a naturopath in the United States," he said.

Another accreditation

Monroe-Ball did provide a copy of a certificate of accreditation for CSCHS from the "World Organization of Natural Medicine Practitioners." That agency is not listed as a recognized accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education. According to its Web site, the WONP purports to fall under the auspices of The Medical Order of the Knights Hospitalers, an organization that claims a thousand-year lineage from a historical order of knighthood; however, the current incarnation organization apparently only dates back to 2007.

Seitz said he had never heard of the WNMOP.

"Anyone can set up an organization that purports to be an accrediting agency," he said. "You have to dig a little deeper to see if it's a meaningful process."

Within hours of an e-mail exchange between The Daily Times staff and Monroe-Ball about the lack of accreditation, Chris Fortner, an area blogger who supports Monroe-Ball, contacted the newspaper vie e-mail. In reference to Monroe-Ball, he appeared to argue against medical licensing.

"Why should medicine be licensed other than to run a racket by those who operate it?" Fortner wrote. "The license, born in the late 19th Century, is nothing more than a shell game, designed to raise the incomes for the people already in these fields. In return for their serving as apologists for the new statism, the state was prepared to offer not only cartelized occupations, but also ever-increasing and cushier jobs in the bureaucracy to plan and propagandize for the newly statized society."

Monroe-Ball lives in Greenback. She runs a Web business selling natural medicine products. According to the site, she moved to Tennessee in 2003. She is seeking the Republican nomination for the House of Representatives seat being vacated by state Rep. Doug Overbey.

Originally published: July 07. 2008 3:01AM
Last modified: July 06. 2008 11:11PM

Minneapolis Star Tribune article

2008-06-08T09:34:00.001-05:00

A bitter fight over who can be called 'doctor'

By MAURA LERNER, Star Tribune

June 7, 2008

It took 99 years, but Minnesota has finally given official recognition to the practice of naturopathic medicine, which relies on the body's powers to heal itself.

Under a new state law, naturopaths -- who use everything from herbal remedies to biofeedback -- will be allowed to register with the state and call themselves doctors without fear of running afoul of the medical establishment.

You might think that would be a cause for celebration throughout Minnesota's alternative-health community.

But you'd be wrong.

Instead, the new law has triggered a bitter rift among the vast array of people who practice alternative medicine, from homeopaths to folk healers to massage therapists.

To those covered by the new law, it's simply a way to get more respect and professional freedom for a particular brand of holistic medicine. But others see it as an assault in a turf war that could benefit a few highly trained practitioners at the expense of others.

"What they're trying to do is become the gatekeeper for natural health, so nobody else can practice," said Greg Schmidt, who runs the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project, which led a pitched battle to sink the law.

Despite assurances to the contrary, the fissure remains.

"I didn't realize how much of an issue it was going to be," said Rep. Neva Walker, DFL-Minneapolis, who championed the bill for years before it finally passed and was signed into law in May. "[I] didn't realize somebody who had supported all forms of alternative healing for years was going to be an enemy."

The quest for recognition

Naturopathic doctors call their work a mix of modern and traditional medicine.

In some states, they are licensed professionals, much like medical doctors. The main difference, they say, is that they rely on herbs, vitamins and other natural, low-tech remedies to treat ailments that, they believe, are often caused by stress and lifestyle.

"It's blending the best of what we know in science with the best of what we know in natural medicine," said Leslie Vilensky, of New Prague, president of the Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

In Minnesota, supporters have tried, on and off, to pass a naturopathic law since 1909. But they have been lumped in with other folk healers, allowed to work with patients as long as they didn't cross into territory reserved for doctors or other licensed professionals.

Sometimes, that's been tricky.

In 1996, Helen Healy, a St. Paul naturopath, was accused by the state Board of Medical Practice of practicing medicine without a license. Her case instantly became a cause célèbre for alternative medicine supporters. Natural healers of all stripes, from herbalists to homeopaths, protested in the streets over her treatment. Eventually the medical board compromised, allowing Healy to see patients within certain limits.

At that point, Healy, who runs the Wellspring Naturopathic Clinic, vowed to try to change state law to allow naturopathic doctors to practice freely. She never imagined that the biggest resistance would come from former allies.

"We're not trying to take away anybody's rights to use these gifts from nature," she said last week. "We just need to have a place ... for naturopathic physicians."

A divide among healers

For years, Healy and her colleagues pushed futilely for a law to license naturopathic doctors. This year, they changed strategy and proposed a less-formal registration.

It allows those who qualify to use the title "naturopathic doctor" and expand their "scope of practice" to include such things as ordering blood tests and MRIs, and admitting patients to hospitals.

It only applies, however, to graduates of four-year naturopathic medical schools -- about 26 people now practicing in Minnesota, according to the naturopathic group.

At first, they ran into flak from both sides. The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA), representing conventional doctors, objected to allowing naturopaths to prescribe drugs and perform minor surgery. When those items were dropped, the MMA withdrew its opposition.

But the alternative-medicine groups dug in their heels. Boyd Landry, who heads the Coalition for Natural Health in Washington, D.C., argued that it could lead to restrictions on other people practicing alternative medicine. "This is about market share. This is about turf," he said.

Schmidt, of the Minnesota group, agreed. "Regulatory schemes create boxes, and boxes fence people in as much as they fence people out," he said. Schmidt worried what would happen to naturopaths who are self-taught or took correspondence courses and don't qualify under this law.

"Why should they be denied a title?" he asked.

Supporters, though, say the new law doesn't interfere with anyone's right to practice alternative medicine. "Take a look at the bill; it's not there. The bill doesn't prohibit anybody," Healy said. "We are not trying to control the universe of natural health care."

The debate isn't over. The new law, which takes effect in July 2009, calls for a work group of both sides to hammer out the details. Both sides said that's a good thing.

Meanwhile, after nearly a century of trying, naturopaths are relishing their victory.

"It's not necessarily as complete or thorough as other laws, where naturopaths practice in other states," said Vilensky, president of the Minnesota group. "But we're very happy that we're able to do what we can do under this law."

Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384

"They have Lust again"

2008-05-30T16:36:00.003-05:00

Interesting link includes an account of Benedict Lust, the father of naturopathy.
From the article:

Dr. Benedict Lust enjoys a sun-bath at "Sonnenbichel" sun and air park in Kneipp-Bad Worishofen, Bavaria, Germany on a return to the Fatherland in the summer of 1926. The "Father of Naturopathy" in America, no single individual contributed more to natural healing and lifestyle in the world than Dr. Lust did through his many schools and publications. Everything from massage, herbology, raw foods, anti-vivisection and hydro-therapy to Eastern influences like Ayurveda and Yoga found their way to an American audience through Lust. Though he was repeatedly harassed by Medical authorities and Federal agents, his devotion to promoting Nature's methods of healing finaly gained wide acceptance. Like so many others from his generation, he was a tough man. (Photo from Naturopath, February, 1927)

Dr. Lust was "busted" repeatedly by American authorities and medical associations, for promoting natural methods of healing, massage and nude sun bathing at his Jungborn sanitarium. He was arrested 16 times by New York authorities and 3 times by Feds. One news headline read simply "They Have Lust Again".

2004 Idaho Senate Committee testimony on naturopathic licensure

2008-05-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

SB 1300	This legislation, SB1300, relating to naturopathic medicine, was presented by Senator Robert L. Geddes. There are a significantly growing number of residents of the State of Idaho who choose natural health care. Naturopathic medicine is a distinct health care profession. The purpose of this legislation is to provide standards of practice and education, a code of ethics for practitioners, state administrative supervision, licensure, regulation and disciplinary procedures for every person providing naturopathic medical services in the state. There is no fiscal impact to the general fund.
	Boyd Landry, executive director of the Coalition for Natural Health, testified to oppose SB1300. He explained his opposition to licensing of naturopathic physicians. The Coalition for Natural Health is headquartered in the District of Columbia with a regional office in San Diego. The Coalition for Natural Health (CNH) is a non-profit organization representing over 2,500 individuals nationwide who share a common goal: to promote the holistic approach to health and to ensure that natural health alternatives remain widely accessible to the public. The mission of the Coalition for Natural Health is: to educate the public as to the true meaning and benefits of traditional naturopathy; to educate legislators on the efficacy of traditional naturopathy; and to prevent legislation that would prohibit traditional naturopaths from practicing now and in the future. Before addressing the specific reasons for our opposition, I would like to address the proponents' true need to pass this legislation. As opposed to their stated need, the "naturopathic physician's" true agenda for this legislation is economic protection. The proponents need this bill because a new law creating a new medical profession is necessary to allow them to perform the range of medical services they want to perform and because some of these services would be interpreted as the practice of medicine. In other words, it is all about money and self-interest. Dr. Rena Bloom, a Denver "naturopathic physician" was quoted in the Colorado Daily (Exhibit 1) on Monday, January 18, 1999, as stating "We need this bill because at this point, we're illegal we're practicing medicine without a license." REQUIREMENTS OF LICENSURE - There are several contentious parts to SB1300: 1) Qualifications for Licensure; 2) Scope of Practice; and, 3) Title Protection. The proponents of this legislation will argue that twelve states have passed licensing legislation, of this type, and that Idaho should follow suit. However, since 1996, twenty states (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio, and Idaho) have rejected licensing legislation and twelve of these (Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oklahoma, Missouri, Idaho, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Rhode Island and Texas) rejected it more than once. In total, it has been rejected on over 50 different occasions in the past seven years. Section 54-5102(1) provides as follows for all would-be licensees to be graduates from approved naturopathic colleges: 1) "Approved naturopathic medical program" means: (a) A course of study from a college or university granting the degree of doctor of naturopathy or doctor of naturopathic medicine accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the state or federal government; or (b ) A college or university granting the degree of doctor of naturopathy, or doctor of naturopathic medicine that has the status of candidate for accreditation with the accrediting agency; or ( c ) A postgraduate degree granting college or university of the healing arts approved by the examining board and state or federal accrediting agency. Such college or university shall require a minimum of sixty (60) semester units for admission and a minimum of four thousand (4,000) hours in basic and clinical sciences, naturopathic philosophy, naturopathic modalities, and naturopathic medicine, of which not less than two thousand (2,000) hours shall be academic instruction and not less than two thousand (2,000) hours shall be school or college approved supervised clinical training. The college or university shall provide adequate instruction to maintain naturopathic medicine as a separate and distinct healing art." A close look at "naturopathic medical" schools reveals inherent problems with this type of education. The faculty of Bastyr University (Exhibit 2), the only fully "accredited school" highlights the limitations of the "medical" education claimed by graduates of these schools. Recent information from www.bastyr.edu shows a total of 46 faculty members in the "naturopathic medicine" program with 43 of those listing degree of "N.D." as their primary qualification. Of the three "non-N.D." degreed professionals, there is only one M.D.! Thirty-nine of Bastyr's faculty, forty-six members hold N.D. degrees from Bastyr as their primary qualification. Seventeen of the thirty-nine have had their degrees for five years or less. Three hold N.D.'s from National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland. Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) located in Tempe, Arizona, is the newest "candidate" for accreditation. However, SCNM has an extensive list of problems. Initially, for the majority of time in SCNM's existence, the school could only attain candidacy status for accreditation with the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). SCNM was only able to reach full accreditation with CNME after the CNME violated its own policies to accredit the school. Incredibly, CNME granted full accreditation less than 90 days after SCNM suspended operations to address severe financial problems in the summer of 1999. These egregious violations of its own policies resulted in the revocation of CNME' s recognition as an accrediting agency by the United States Department of Education. In addition, The Arizona Republic (Exhibit 3) reported hazardous environmental conditions at SCNM in a September 12, 2001 article which stated, "Several students have alleged that the school, one of four of its kind in the country, has made them sick because of improper ventilation of its cadaver lab, among other things." The Auditor General for the State of Arizona in a June 2000 (Exhibit 4) report to the Legislature reported that at least 19 individuals received a license to practice naturopathic medicine without properly passing the required examination given by the Arizona Board of Naturopathic Medicine. The report stated, "Everyone passed the February 1999 exam, but without scoring adjustments, no one would have passed." In fact, the auditor herself who had absolutely no training in naturopathic medicine took the exam and passed after using the same scoring adjustments. What does that say? In the past, proponents of this bill have provided legislators with a chart that compares the three "naturopathic medical" schools to top medical schools such as Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Stanford. This chart compares course hours, and implies that these "naturopathic medical" schools are academically on par with, or better than, the best medical schools in the United States. However, these schools have practically no medical doctors on staff, and the first of these schools to be accredited (Bastyr) was not accredited until the late 1980s. National College and SCNM only have candidacy status. Most of the instructors at these schools are "naturopathic physicians," which means that most instructors either graduated from unaccredited schools or are relatively new to practice. I ask you to closely examine the faculty at National College in Exhibit 5 where you will find that 24 (60%) of the 40 faculty members with National College degrees received their degree prior to National receiving candidacy status. In fact, the faculty member who teaches oncology and gynecology lists National College as her only credential. Moreover, National College has had three different presidents in the past two-years, which is cause for additional concern. The truth is "naturopathic medical" education and training mimics medical education and training in form, but not in content! Conventional medical students start clinical work under physician supervision in their third and fourth years, and are assigned to work in major teaching hospitals and clinics. Even after four years of medical school, graduates are ineligible for full medical licenses but must enter residency programs which last between three and eight years. It is clear that "naturopathic medical" colleges in the United States do not provide the equivalent of a medical education. Dr. Richard Roberts, Board Chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians summed it up best in The Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2002, when he said, "Naturopaths should not be the coordinator of care. There's a world of difference [compared with M.D.s] in terms of the training, the ongoing education, and the day-to-day work. It is like having the flight attendants fly the plane." The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME), the accreditation board that recently accredited naturopathic medical institutions and programs, had its recognition withdrawn in 2001 by the United States Department of Education (Exhibit 6) because it demonstrated "pervasive non-compliance" in "not following its own standards." If they are willing to cut corners with their accrediting agency, who is to say that they would not cut corners on the Advisory Committee on Naturopathic Medicine? History does have a way of repeating itself. NATUROPATHY VS. NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE - A person who feels ill and sees an allopathic physician will typically be given a diagnosis to name the disease and then a prescription for medication to kill the germs that cause the illness. Once the symptoms have disappeared, the person is considered healthy. The allopathic approach to healing is to find the agent of disease-that is, bacteria or virus--and then to kill it. Vis medicatrix naturae, or the healing power of nature, is central to traditional naturopathic philosophy. This philosophy holds that disease occurs when toxins that have accumulated internallyusually due to incorrect lifestyle, a poor diet, and improper care of the body which weakens the body. Bacteria and viruses, which are always present, seldom cause problems in a healthy body. While allopathic methods of treatment may get rid of symptoms, these treatments alone do not bring healing. The human body is designed to heal itself. Traditional naturopathic modalities stimulate the body's inner forces to get rid of accumulated toxins and thereby allow intrinsic healing to take place. Rather than trying to attack specific diseases, traditional naturopaths focus on cleansing and strengthening the body. Traditional naturopaths avoid procedures that are common to medical care-diagnosing disease, treating disease, prescribing drugs and pharmaceuticals, and performing invasive procedures. Instead, traditional naturopaths focus on health and education, teaching their clients how to create internal and external environments that are conducive to good health. This is how naturopathy was meant to be practiced as described by Benedict Lust's obituary reported in The New York Times, "The members of the American Naturopathic Association do not believe in ...drug treatments, medicinal remedies or vivisection. " (Exhibit 7) Traditional naturopathy is simply not the practice of medicine. Diagnosing and treating disease, prescribing drugs and pharmaceuticals, performing major and minor surgery, giving injections and drawing blood, and performing other invasive procedures are medical practices that are outside the scope of traditional naturopathy. Anyone who performs these procedures without a license is illegally practicing medicine and, under existing laws, can be and should be prosecuted for doing so without a license. While self-styled "naturopathic physicians" seek to claim the same core philosophy as traditional naturopaths, in practice, they move into territory long held by allopathic physicians. "Naturopathic physicians" seek to have laws enacted that would authorize them to perform minor surgery, practice obstetrics including episiotomies, prescribe certain drugs including some synthetic antibiotics, and use many allopathic diagnostic procedures including X-rays, electrocardiograms, ultrasound, and clinical laboratory tests. These procedures move "naturopathic medicine" far from the realm of traditional naturopathy and into the practice of medicine. This is why, "naturopathic physicians" are seeking to be licensed; otherwise, in conducting their desired scope of practice they would be illegally practicing medicine. FISCAL IMPACT - A close look at Senate Bill 1300 reveals that the potential licensees will not support the cost of regulation through fees. Given the fact that the program has no way to support itself, it is inappropriate for Idaho to create a new program for which only eleven (11) individuals will be eligible, especially a program Idaho would have to subsidize. There is no need for a new medical profession and certainly no legitimize basis for Idaho to subsidize it! Furthermore, if a person needs any surgery or prescription drugs there are already licensed medical doctors to fill this need. Practically and fiscally speaking there is simply no demonstrated need for this hybrid profession. SCOPE OF PRACTICE - If "naturopathic physicians" are allowed by Idaho to "diagnose and treat" disease, prescribe medications, and perform surgery , a "new medical profession" will be created and they will be elevated to the status of primary care physicians. This promotion is high on their agenda because of the status and the money associated with it. Thomas Kruzel, Chief Medical Officer at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and former President of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, was quoted in the Spring 1994 edition of The Naturopathic Phvsician (Exhibit 8) as saying, "Naturopathic physicians are primary care, family practice physicians, and as such are gate keepers to the medical system, along with family practice MDs and DOs." By licensing "naturopathic physicians" Idaho would be equating "naturopathic physicians" with MDs and DOs, because "naturopathic physicians" will inform their "patients" that there is no need to continue to see a regular medical physician, as they have consistently done in states where they are licensed. These "patients" assume "naturopathic physicians" have an education from legitimate medical schools approved by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The lack of a need for a "new medical profession" is one of the primary reasons licensing efforts like this one have been rejected on over 50 separate occasions in the last seven years. In a sworn deposition (Exhibit 9) Mr. Kruzel defined minor surgery in this way:" . . . generally it means that you do not enter a body cavity." The Oregon "naturopathic medicine" licensing law defines minor surgery as "the use of electrical or other methods for the surgical repair and care incident thereto of superficial lacerations and abrasions, benign superficial lesions, and the removal of foreign bodies located in the superficial structures; and the use of antiseptics and local anesthetics in connection therewith." It is difficult to reconcile Kruzel's definition of minor surgery with the actual wording of the Oregon law. Furthermore, Kruzel has given the following sworn testimony regarding his qualifications to perform vasectomies: Q: You mentioned that you could do vasectomies on male gonads; is that correct? A: That's correct...Q: You don't consider that to be an invasive procedure? A: Certainly it's an invasive procedure, but it doesn't invade a body cavity, the scrotum is considered an appendix. Q: And is this procedure taught at National College? A: I don't know if it is or not. ..I'm saying that it's within the scope of naturopathic medical practice, and I believe that it probably is taught in school. ..Q: How many vasectomy operations did you do in school? ...A: I did no vasectomies. Q: Do you feel that the fact that you did no vasectomies in school qualifies you to do them in the scope of practice out here with the public? A: Yes. It's a relatively simple procedure to do. Q: Could you learn this procedure by a video tape? A: Possibly. The Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians (WANP) exposed their real agenda of displacing medical doctors as justification to expand prescriptive rights for "naturopathic physicians" to include Schedule II drugs. In a 1998 report to the Washington legislature, the WANP stated, "The primary reason for this language change is to ensure that patients seeking naturopathic care will not unnecessarily be burdened with seeking a second office visit by another licensed practitioner (i.e. a real medical doctor) in order to get, for example, codeine cough syrup or an antibiotic which is not currently in the list of legend drugs that a naturopathic physician can prescribe." Fortunately, the Washington legislature exposed the ruse and did not grant additional scope. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN FRANCISCO -CENTER FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS - The Center for Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco, released a study funded by The Arkay Foundation in September of 200 I titled, "Profiling the Professions: A Model for Evaluating Emerging Health Professions" and an accompanying profile titled, "Profile of a Profession: Naturopathic Practice." The study recognized the right of professions to not seek state regulation choosing to allow market forces and consumer choice to protect the public. It stated, ". ..professions have declined regulation, basing their decision on the low potential risk of harm to the public, evidence that regulation can negatively affect access to care, and the capacity of the market to weed out the lower qualified members of the profession." The study also spoke to the true reason that groups seek state regulation-POWER -when it stated that: " Although regulation is the legislatures' decision, legislatures virtually never seek to regulate a profession on their own. When it is enacted, it is almost always after long and contentious battles between competing or would-be competing professions. Therefore, though informative, the existence of regulation mayor may not mean much more beyond the capacity of the would-be regulated profession to gamer sufficient political power ." WHITE HOUSE COMMISSION ON COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE POLICY (WHCCAMP) - By Executive Order 13147, the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy was created in March of 2000 and completed its work in March 2003 with the submission of its report, http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/finalreport.html, to the Office of the President. The Commission was comprised of 20 members, and the Commission held 10 meetings in Washington, DC, and four town hall meetings around the United States. It is important to recognize that a study of this magnitude will have a number of divergent opinions on a wide variety of topics. The proponents sometimes represent that the Commission recommended that every state should license "naturopathic physicians." However, an accurate reading of the report reveals such representations are untrue. In the section titled " Access and Delivery," the commission provided guidance to Idaho when it stated, "Now is the time to look at policy options for the future and to design strategies for addressing potential issues of access and safety .Beyond these basic concerns, protecting the public, maintaining free competition in the provision of CAM services, and maintaining the consumer's freedom to choose appropriate health professionals are issues to be considered when developing strategies and policies." Secondly, the Commission made it clear that concern exists in the CAM community over appropriate regulatory frameworks for CAM, especially frameworks designed using current regulatory models. The report stated, "Some CAM professionals believe that to reorganize CAM on the conventional professional model, with the kind of licensure, registration, or exemption procedures that this implies, will damage the fundamental character of much of CAM. Some believe that in the past, legislation to "protect the public" was often used to restrict competition in the provision of services." Thirdly, a well-respected physician and a member of the Commission, Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, teamed up with another member of the Commission to send a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to address a number of issues included in the report. One issue related to equating CAM practitioners with designated primary care specialties. They stated: "While we endorse demonstration projects that seek to identify what, if any, value "CAM" providers add to established primary care teams, we want to go on record noting that we do not believe that CAM providers are fungible with the primary care providers enumerated in Title VII. Further, "Efforts (such as Senate Bill 1039) to equate their degree of training, or the scientific basis of their practice, with that of the designated primary care specialties puts the public at risk of receiving unvalidated and non-evidence based primary care." CONCLUSION - The reasons set forth above demonstrate why licensure for this new "medical profession" should not be considered. It is clear that the education of "naturopathic physicians" does not meet the standards one would expect from primary care providers who diagnose and treat disease, prescribe medications, deliver babies, and perform surgery, and this is a role already being filled by medical doctors. If licensure is granted, those so-called "naturopathic physicians" will be so elevated in stature that they will be perceived by the public as equal to the far more extensively- trained allopathic physicians, thus creating the potential for confusion and providing of improper medical care. If licensure is not granted, "naturopathic physicians" may continue to practice in the same manner that is legal today- without making diagnoses, without prescribing medications, and without performing invasive procedures. Those who perform these procedures without a license will be practicing medicine without a license and will be breaking the law. Legal procedures are already in place for addressing this problem, at no added cost to the state. There has been no change in Idaho since last year that would establish a need for this legislation. There is absolutely no demonstrated need to create a new medical profession by licensing "naturopathic physicians." In the over 50 different occasions state legislatures have looked at this question in 1997, 1998,1999, 2000, 2001,2002, 2003, and thus far in 2004, they concluded that there is no need to create a new medical profession styled as "naturopathic medicine." Since the public is not crying out for the licensure of "naturopathic physicians," then who is? The cry for licensure is coming from eleven (11) "naturopathic physicians" in the State and their trade organization, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. This is not about public protection. This is about trying to obtain legislative economic protection, status, and power. These three "naturopathic physicians" gambled on going to school for a profession that is not licensed in 38 of the 50 states, and they now expect Idaho to bail them out! Nancy Aagenes, Past-President of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, stated in 1996 and it is still true today, "Nonetheless a student coming out of our schools, uncertain and anxious anyway often simply will not practice in an unlicenced state. If enough of us default on our loans, a major source of income for our schools is cut off." The State does not need to create a new medical profession known as "naturopathic medicine." Idaho needs to reject the position of the AANP as the nineteen states that considered this type of legislation in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and thus far in 2004, rejected such licensing. This legislation is nothing but a self-serving attempt by a minuscule special interest group to legitimize their alternative approach to the practice of medicine by mandating the creation of their own licensing process and to steal by legislative action the titles that have been used by registrants for over twenty years. The attached above mentioned exhibits during this testimony, and also a CD-R containing a copy of the Arizona Office of the Auditor General Performance Audit, Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Board of Examiners - June 2000 report were presented. (See Attachments #1 and #2).
	Lucy Pierson, represented herself, and testified to support SB1300. Her medical insurance does not pay for a naturopathic physician because Idaho does not require them to be licenced; therefore, insurance will not pay and a person must pay for their own medical care. Lincesure would require insurance companies to pay for medical care.
	Donna Mussell, representing herself, testified to oppose SB1300. She explained she has operated a business in Boise for 15 years, and naturopathic medicine is a very established form of medical care. She does not want the law to the enforced licensing law in Idaho. She seeks natural health and wants the freedom of choice, wants to freely practice health care.
	Michele S. Morgan, M.H., PhD, president of the Idaho Coalition for Natural Health, testified to oppose SB1300. On February 24, 2004, she submitted written testimony to oppose SB1300, as shown: I am president of the Idaho Coalition for Natural Health. I am an Ordained Inter-faith Minister and a Holistic, Herbal and Homeopathic Practitioner. I have been in practice for more than 25 years and am now residing and maintaining an active alternative health care practice in Boise. It is my understanding that a small but determined group of Naturopathic Physicians are once again attempting to gamer support for their bill, SB 1300, that would require licensing. This bill, not sponsored by all Naturopaths and alternative practitioners who are practicing in Idaho at this time, will have serious opposition. This bill as it is written, does not represent the views of a majority of Naturopaths and alternative practitioners, but rather a small segment who are seeking to have the same legal rights as medical doctors to perform treatments and prescribe drugs without the benefit of a full medical education. It is my intent to share with you both my own concerns and the concerns of the ICNH board and all the ICNH members across the state. We believe that licensing is unnecessary and would serve to eliminate alternative health care options. In our minds this is a slippery slope that will u1timately 1imit, not expand alternative health care for people in need. The ICNH board and members will be attending the hearing of SB1300 on March 2, 2004. We trust that our statement of opposition and concern will be heard and taken very seriously by the committee. SB1300 asks to license Naturopaths under the guise of protecting the public but in reality this bill will only serve to compromise health freedom in Idaho. Thank you for consideration in this matter.
	Today, Dr. Morgan testified opposing SB1300. She explained, I have a Ph.D. in the Health Science of Botanical Medicine specializing in Homeopathy and Herbal medicine from Union University in Los Angeles, California. I have been in private practice for 25 years. I am here today to tell you of my experience with naturopathic lincesure in Montana in the year 2000. In 1993, before the licensing law, I worked with two Naturopathic Physicians in Helena. They were my friends. I shared office space with one of them. We referred clients to one another and taught classes together . In 1996, I was severely injured in a car accident and had to leave Montana for medical treatment. I handed over my client base to these two trusted friends. After a 3-year rehabilitation, I returned home to Helena to re-open my practice. I placed ads in the newspaper, on cable TV and radio, had a web site built and printed thousands of new brochures. Within 3 days, after my advertising began, I received a call from my Naturopathic Physician friend informing me I could no longer advertise or practice homeopathy and herbal medicine in Montana because I was not an "N.D." Her words to me were, and I quote, 'cease and desist or we'll find a way to take you out.' She stated she knew I was a respected, trusted practitioner with more years in the profession than either one of them, but that they had worked too hard for this law for me to be an exception. I called my attorney for advice. After reading the law he informed me that there was no provision for me and that my education, degrees, experience, reputation...none of it mattered. Soon, I received a letter from the Montana Medical Review Board informing me that the screening panel was considering prosecution for "practicing medicine without a license" and "holding myself out as a doctor without a license". If found guilty , I would face a $1,000 fine and 6 months in jail. My attorney replied that since being out of state, I was not informed of the licensing law and was innocent of all charges. The response was, if I agreed to maintain a silent practice, stop the ads, shut down the web site and destroy the brochures within 48 hours, the inquiry would be dropped. I was in shock; heartbroken. My clients were enraged that their health freedom was being denied and begged me to fight it. But, truly, I couldn't face jail time or court fees. Ultimately, I was forced to leave the state I called home. I came to Idaho to practice under its current Health Freedom Law. In my mind, SB 1300, as it is written, is the beginning of this story allover again for myself and all of Idaho's non-licensed practitioners, AND their clientspresent and future. Please vote no on SB1300.
	Laurence Smith, testified to oppose SB1300. He explained he is not a doctor, he is an herbalist and owner of a health food store. He had a heart attack and traditional medication did not work. He looked for a teacher and has studied herbal medicine for 19 years. He stated, I teach empower. He wants people to have the knowledge and power to change and improve their lives. Laws should solve problems, so what is the problem? If there is a problem, is this the best solution? In the proposed law there is a list of things naturopaths do, but in the exclusions many of these items have been omitted. We have a good law.
	Joan Haynes, ND, a naturopathic physician who is licensed in the state of Oregon, testified to support SB1300. She believes that due to the Idaho not requiring licensing it limits her abilities to operate.
	Lyn Darrington testified to oppose SB1300, and that the Idaho Association of Health Plans , Regence Blue Shield of Idaho, does not support this legislation.
	Mark Michaud, M.D., testified to support SB1300. He outlined the importance of having accountability and standards, and how important it is to know when to refer to a medical physician.
	Debbie Dalrymple, testified to oppose SB1300. She believes people should have the right to choose to die with dignity. She asked what is wrong with the current law? Why spend money to fix something that is not broken?
	Dr. Todd Schlapfer testified to support SB1300. He represented the Idaho Association of Naturopathic Physicians and testified, I am a practicing naturopathic physician in Coeur d'Alen. I received my doctorate in naturopathic medicine from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, and hold a license to practice naturopathic medicine in our neighboring state of Montana. I am in favor of SB 1300. Naturopathic medicine is a distinct, comprehensive system of natural health care based upon a thorough grounding in biomedical science. What conventional medicine and naturopathic medicine have in common is education in biomedical science. What is different and distinguishes our professions is our education in unconventional medical science and therapeutic modalities. It would never be possible to merge the two professions into an indistinguishable singularity. As an ND, if l wanted to become an MD, I would have to go to an MD school with the privilege of bypassing most of the already traversed medical science. If an MD wanted to become a naturopathic physician, one would have to do the same through an ND school. Unfortunately, because some states, like Idaho, do not yet license naturopathic physicians, this distinction is murky. For example, there's nothing stopping an MD or any citizen from claiming to be an instantaneous ND. No standard of education or accountability required. This has become a growing problem for an increasing number of states. The established standard for a physician-level practitioner of health care is licensure. Educational qualifications are central to that determination. Accredited education is required for all licensed health care professions. SB 1300 is no exception. In the same way the Liaison Committee for Medical Education accredits medical schools, the Council on Naturopathic Education accredits naturopathic medical schools. Both are established at the federal level under the Department of Education. There is no higher educational standard. POINTS OF CLARIFICATION - Contrary to the eloquently stated assertion, we do not "deliver babies, cut on people and hand out drugs." Under 54-5108(2) it is clearly stated that one cannot do any OB without complying with established Idaho Code 54-1404, pertaining to the Idaho board of nursing. SB1300 establishes no exception to this statute. Minor office procedures are limited to the repair and care of superficial abrasions and lesions, e.g., a wart or splinter. We are prohibited from using general or spinal anaesthesia, inducing or performing an abortion, procedures involving the eye, ear, tendon, nerves veins, or arteries extending beyond superficial tissue. We cannot treat any lesion suspected of malignancy unless in collaboration with an MD or DO. Two references: 54-5102 (3), and 54-5105 (4-9). Prescriptive privileges is limited strictly to those prescription substances that are consistent with naturopathic education, training and board examination. These are natural-source medicines, e.g. thyroid, bio-identical hormones, and natural source antibiotics. This bill does not determine a formulary. SB1300 sets up a formulary council, an entity separate from and not under the authority of the board. There will be 5 members; 2 naturopathic physicians, 2 pharmacists nominated by the State Board of Pharmacy, and one MD or DO nominated by the State Board of Medicine. See 54-5109. SB1300 provides for a restricted license. This applies to practitioners who have been practicing in Idaho for at least the past 5 years and who can demonstrate a minimum of 4000 hours of academic and clinically supervised naturopathic training. This allows established practitioner to continue to practice as they have, without diagnostic imaging privileges, minor surgery privileges or prescriptive privileges. Restricted licenses will be granted once. This provision closes after six months. See 54-5112 Estimated numbers of licenses granted for the first year is significantly larger than you were told yesterday by opposing testimony. The range somewhere between 120-150. SB1300 provides no mandate for insurance coverage. Testimony has been given that may have been misleading. Florida is seriously considering a licensure bill for naturopathic physicians. A House bill will soon be introduced by Representative Bower. A number has already been assigned. California is on course to establish rules and regulations for its licensees. At the same time as our hearing, Washington D.C. voted 13-0 in favor of licensure for naturopathic physicians. It now is being prepared for signature by the mayor.
	Laurence Hicks, a physician and surgeon from Rupert, Idaho, testified he is also a naturopathic physician, and was testifying to support SB1300. He explained the issue is on using the title doctor. He wants the public to understand the different levels of education required to be a medical physician. He believes this legislation was very carefully crafted and does support SB1300.
	Written testimony was received from Townsend D. Wolfe from Boise, in opposition to SB1300, as follows: Empowering a few individuals with responsibility for which they are not fully trained (medical procedures and prescriptions) while at the same time taking away hundreds of jobs from individuals who serve others with SAFE and natural remedies is not a responsible position to take, and I strongly ask that you oppose this bill. No only will this bill restrict free enterprise from hundreds of people, but it will severely limit the ability of Idahoans to take responsibility for their health care choices.
	Written testimony was received from Terry Durst to oppose SB1300 in the strongest terms. In summary he reported: This licensing effort is another effort of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and has been around for several years now. In the Senate in 1998 and in the House in different iterations, as the proponents try to make it palatable to the Senate and House. Similar legislation did not get out of the Health and Welfare chairman's office last term in the House. Not getting out of your office would be a great service to the citizens of Idaho. This is an organization that comprises the graduates of three Naturopathic Colleges in this country who are seeking exclusive use of the term "Naturopath." They are seeking primary care physician status without having the necessary education, internships, residencies, etc. This group advocates and has authorization in the few states where they have held sway to prescribe prescription drugs for which they are not qualified. Former Senator "Moon" Wheeler, a former pharmacist was against this effort because of the pharmaceutical qualifications issue. The AANP also advocates minor surgeries. Minor surgery is defined as any surgery that does not penetrate the abdominal cavity. They also advocate episiotomies in "Natural childbirth." I'm sorry but that is NOT natural childbirth. The brand of Naturopathy or Natural Health practiced by the members of this association practice is a strange form of naturopathy. Traditional naturopathy uses no toxic substances and does no invasive procedures. Traditional naturopathy works with the natural order and in harmony with the body, while most allopathic and some of the methods of the members of AANP work against the body's natural rhythm. The AANP seeks exclusive use of the term "naturopath" which would mean that should this ill advised bill pass, many good natural health practitioners who cause no harm to society by our modalities and methods, such as myself, would not be permitted to use the name I have become accustomed to in the last ten years. I worked very hard for about four years of structured study to earn my Doctor of Naturopathy degree, preceded by 25 years self-study, and living by those principles and now 10 years of private. The Idaho State Constitution give Idaho citizens the right to treat their health as they see fit, and that practitioners may ply their skills amongst the populace without fear of State involvement so long as they do not overstep their abilities the proscribed boundaries. I urge you to oppose SB1300 in the strongest possible terms. The AANP has tried several times and will continue into the future to gain the exclusive use of the term Naturopath. They seek exclusive authority to practice what any traditional Naturopathy would shun like a bad habit. "Naturopathic heresy" is another term that could be used to describe this group which comprises only ten or eleven AANP backed and sanctioned Naturopaths. These NDs in Oregon have the title NMD. This is Naturopathic Medical Doctor. They seek primary care status and are MD wannabes. They are not qualified for such a title. It would be most unfair for all the wonderful Naturopaths and Natural Health Practitioners in this State to be thrown into limbo or worse, so that these eleven people may ply their trade as a very exclusive clique. I have no personal animosity to any member of this organization. I'm sure every member of the AANP is a very nice person and is only practicing what they have been taught. My opposition is to the "only the eleven of us" attitude and the above stated procedures and practices they advocate. I urge you to vote NAY when the time comes, and preserve the status quo in Idaho that serves its citizens very well. Do not throw many very good and well-meaning practitioners into limbo, or worse. Do not throw citizens who seek natural methods of health and healing into limbo. Many have been with particular health practitioners for years, and if that care giver doesn't meet the standards of the AANP or the State and must cease and desist, that client who may have great trust in their "natural doctor" will be searching for one of those NMDs (only eleven at this time). This is a classic case of a special interest group, a very small special interest group that is not in the best interest of all the people in the state of Idaho. Please help keep health care decisions and those who practice natural health free, at least the freedom to choose for ones' self.
	Written comments were received from Briana Werner. In summary, she reported: I am all for the naturopathic medicine. I have used a naturopathic physician in line with the regular doctors. I have avoided going to the regular doctor with sinus, menopause, cholesterol issues, sleeping, stress, and aches and pain problems. I am glad we have Naturopaths because it is nice to use non-chemical remedies with the help of a naturopath. They keep you from using the wrong kind of remedies and they know which ones won't be bad with other medications you might be on. We need someone to consult for all the vitamins, herbs and natural remedies that are out there. We really need to have the Naturopaths working side-by-side with regular doctors. I have met lots of people who are allergic to some chemicals, but can take natural remedies. It would be crazy to not have these two professionals working together. Yale has started to have them work side-by-side and so has Oregon, and some other states. Please allow the Naturopaths to be licensed in Idaho. Let us have a choice, after all, isn't that what America stands for? Chiropractors and physical therapists are a form of natural remedy, and they are licensed.
	Written comments were received from Jennifer Rizzuti, from Boise, to oppose SB1300. She wrote: As a citizen of Idaho, I would like to voice my concern over the pending Naturopath licensing bill, SB1300. In reviewing SB1300, I fail to understand the problem this bill is trying to address. It appears there is a small number of Naturopathic physicians trained in a limited number of four year degreed, on-campus universities trying to exclude traditional Naturopaths and herbalists. I am particularly disturbed by the freedom this bill provides to Naturopathic practitioners to diagnose, treat and prescribe. In addition, there appears to be no accountability to AMA-approved governing medical body. SB1300 may be presented as protection for the Idaho public, but the question to answer is, "who is currently falling ill or dying at the hands of Naturopaths in this state?" In fact, many consumers are currently receiving exceptionally good care. The existing health freedom law, Title 54-1804, continues to serve us very well to protect the natural health care community and consumers of those services in Idaho. Please vote "No" on SB1300.
	The committee members asked numerous questions of persons testifying, both for and against SB1300, and conducted an in-depth review of the legislation. Chairman Brandt announced the committee members must convene on the Senate Floor; therefore, he would continue hearing testimonies on Wednesday, March 3, 2004.
ADJOURNED:	The meeting adjourned at 9:55 a.m.

DATE:	Wednesday, March 3, 2004
TIME:	8:00 a.m.
PLACE:	Room 437
MEMBERS PRESENT:	Chairman Brandt, Acting Vice Chairman Duncan, Senators Darrington, Ingram, Sweet, Bailey, Burkett, and Kennedy
MEMBERS ABSENT/ EXCUSED:	Senator Stegner and Vice Chairman Compton
GUESTS:	See the attached sign-in sheets
SB 1418	This legislation, SB1418 relating to the Department of Health and Welfare, was presented by the Intergovernmental and Fiscal Division Chief Bill von Tagen. This legislation is to amend the statutory language to broaden the use of "do not resuscitate orders" and DNR protocols beyond emergency medical services personnel and to clarify the Department of Health and Welfare's role and rule making authority in the section. The bill will have no fiscal impact.
MOTION:	A motion was made by Senator Sweet to send SB1418 to the Floor with a Do Pass recommendation. The motion was seconded by Senator Bailey, and the motion was carried by a voice vote. Senator Bunderson will be the Floor sponsor.
SB 1300	SB1300 was introduced by Senator Robert Geddes on Tuesday, March 2, 2004, and the hearing was continued today. Chairman Brandt announced he would call those persons to testify who registered on the sign-in sheets of March 2, and did not get a chance to present their testimony.
	Dr. Todd Schlapfer, from Coeur d'Alene, continued his testimony from March 2, 2004, to support SB1300. Historically, naturopathic medicine is one of the oldest continuously licensed health care professions in the U.S. Its origins can be traced back to late nineteenth-century European physicians, who wanted to re-orient medicine toward healthful living and therapies. It was brought to the U .S. and Canada in the 1890's and was adopted by physicians who established schools to educate and train physicians of natural medicine. I have a letter dated 1922 signed by Dr. Benedict Lust, one of most well known pioneers of naturopathic medicine, showing that education and training then was at least 3 years, which was customary for physicians at the time. Matriculation included medical science ( as it was known then), surgery, OB and prescriptive medicines. But the emphasis of therapeutics was on nature-based modalities, e.g., hydrotherapy, diet, exercise, homeopathy, etc. In the middle years of the twentieth century , the development of miracle drugs such as antibiotics, and the large scale funding that became available from pharmaceutical companies, combined to create a near monopoly of heath care by conventional medicine. That stage lasted until the mid-1970's and resulted in the suppression of many alternatives to the mainstream system. Over the past 25 years, the American public has become increasingly aware of the costs and consequences of relying primarily on drugs and surgery for health care. There began a large and growing demand that natural medicine alternatives be accessible in a consistent, effective way. The result has been the re-emergence of modern naturopathic medicine. This is a bill for licensure of those who have met the respected and conventional standards for physician level education and training to practice naturopathic medicine in the State of Idaho. Why do we need this legislation? I. To provide for full and legal access to what naturopathic physicians can provide. The public increasingly seeks access to naturopathic physicians, but find it untenable that they cannot receive the full benefit of naturopathic services. The current situation restricts the trade of our profession in Idaho. 2. To distinguish between physician-level practitioners of naturopathic medicine and natural health care providers that do not require licensure. 3. To create an environment of free choice and collaboration between naturopathic physicians and all variety of health care for the citizens of Idaho. 4. To create appropriate standards of education and practice for those using the title "Naturopathic Physician", or "Naturopathic Doctor." In the United States Department of Labor, Dictionary of Occupational Titles, you will find Naturopathic Doctor defined: It's fairly long, so I'll summarize. Diagnoses, treats, and care for patients, using a system of practice that bases treatment of physiological functions and abnormal conditions on natural laws governing the human body. . . .It goes on to describe modalities, which include botanical, nutritional, food, mechanical, minor surgery , and prescriptive medicines compatible to body processes. SB1300 is precisely consistent with this definition. In the American health care system, a doctor means someone who diagnoses and treats, and has met an established standard of education, training and board examination in order to accept this responsibility .Making a diagnosis requires a comprehensive understanding of human function, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, pathology and disease processes, examination, etc. Unlicenced practitioners do not practice an established form of health care requiring a license. As such, practitioners not requiring a license to practice, e.g. "naturopaths", "traditional naturopaths", "natural health consultants", "herbalists", etc are not required to study the detail of human function, pathophysiology, and diagnostic evaluations for determining a diagnosis. Subsequently they agree, according to a recent publication from the Coalition for Natural Health,". ..not to diagnose and treat disease. . . ." This is consistent with not practicing as a doctor. To put oneself out as a doctor without physician-level training is completely inconsistent with responsible health care. Those practicing as unlicenced practitioners do not seek licensure or regulation. Their literature and the laws under which they are allowed to practice specifically provides, among other limitations, that they do not diagnose, do not claim or make themselves out to be doctors. There is no established standard of education and practice for unlicenced practitioners. There is an established standard of education and practice for naturopathic physicians. In order to resolve public confusion and ensure public safety , any reference to a practitioner using naturopathic modalities who does not have physician level education and training that meets an established standard to diagnose and treat, should not use any title referencing themselves as a doctor. The White House Commission on Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Policy along with the Center for the Health Care Professions at the University of California have been very clear about the fact that unlicenced practitioners are not doctors. They recommend titles, e.g., naturopath, traditional naturopath, natural health consultant, etc. Both science and the people have found that health care is best delivered when we can integrate our varied professional expertise and help each other be successful in caring for our patients. Naturopathic medicine has entered the mainstream. For the same reason MDs, dentists or nurses are licensed, licensure of qualified naturopathic physicians is necessary. I hope that you will carry this message to the people of Idaho by supporting the passage of SB'300, the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Act. Chuck Lempesis, an attorney and a representative of the Coalition of Health, testified in opposition to SB1300. He explained this issue has been ongoing for years. He wants to encourage natural health care in Idaho. He requested the committee to not adopt SB1300.
	Dennis Davis, ND, briefly testified to support SB1300.
	Gay Doman, briefly testified in opposition to SB1300.
	Ken McClure, an attorney for the Idaho Medical Association (IMA), testified the IMA does not want to get involved in the scope of practice and does not see SB1300 as affecting public health. The IMA does not support or oppose SB1300.
	Senator Geddes explained SB1300 does not put anyone out of business. He believes SB1300 is good legislation.
	Larry Benton, a representative of the Idaho Association of Naturopathic Physicians, explained that a lot of effort and months of time was involved to develop SB1300. This legislation does not restrict persons from conducting their business, but that it does restricts the use of the term "doctor." He presented an eight (8) page review of SB1300 with details relating to specific areas of change. (See Attachment #1). He also presented a Bastyr University report relating to the Naturopathic Medicine Program of 2003-2004. (See Attachment #2) Mr. Benton requested the committee to send SB1300, to the amending order. A letter, dated February 18, 2004, from the Bingham County Commissioners to Senator Geddes, was submitted. The letter stated, as follows: We, the Bingham County Commissioners, applaud your introduction and encourage your support of SB1300. This legislation will provide for the health and safety of the citizens of Idaho who seek health care from qualified naturopathic physicians. As you may be aware, problems with unqualified practitioners led the Bingham County Commissioners to adopt Bingham County Ordinance 98-10. This Ordinance assures Bingham County citizens that practitioners are, in fact, qualified naturopathic physicians. Please find the Ordinance attached for your reference. In as much as the legislation will provide the same assurance to the citizens of Idaho statewide, and upon passage of SB1300, the County will sunset Ordinance 98-10, which will then be replaced by the higher standards of this bill.
	Also submitted was a letter, dated September 10, 2003, from Rod Page, the Secretary of Education in Washington D.C., addressed to Robert Lofft, the executive director of the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education in Eugene, Oregon. The letter reported, as follows: At its June 9-10, 2003 meeting, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity recommended that I grant initial recognition for a period of two years to the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency. This recommendation was made under Sections 114 and 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, and pursuant to relevant statutory and regulatory provisions. I concur with the recommendation of the National Advisory Committee. I am satisfied that accreditation by the Council is a required element in enabling students and graduates of the programs the agency accredits or pre-accredits to participate in Federal programs administered by other Federal agencies. These other Federal programs include the Academic Research Enhancement Awards and the Loan Repayment Program administered by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary Alternative Medicine. Accordingly, For a period of two years from the date of this letter, I grant initial recognition to the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency for the accreditation and pre-accreditation throughout the United States of graduate-level, four-year naturopathic medical education programs leading to the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.M.D.) Or Doctor of Naturopathy (N.D.) Degree. Please convey my best wishes to the members of the Council. I appreciate their continuing efforts to improve the quality of postsecondary education in the United States.
	A letter, dated February 4, 2004, from Don Warren, B.SC.,N.D., to all Representatives and Senators of the Idaho State Legislature, relating to the confirmation of USDE Recognition Faculty Credentials of N.D. Programs, was submitted and reads as follows: At the June 9-10, 2003 meeting, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) recommended that the USDE grant initial recognition for a period of two years to the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education as a national accrediting agency. The Council will apply for continued recognition in the spring of 2005. The CNME will continue to remain in full compliance with USDE regulations and so anticipate this recognition being renewed. It is also important to note that each of the programs that the CNME accredits in the U.S. are regionally accredited or pre-accredited by recognized regional accreditors. The CNME recognizes that the quality and effectiveness of a naturopathic medicine program in fulfilling its mission and objectives depend largely on the competence and performance of its faculty. The first standard in Section IV, p.37, of the Handbook of Accreditation for Naturopathic Medicine Programs requires that: Members of the faculty are appropriately qualified by education and experience for their teaching positions in the naturopathic medicine program. Advance or professional degrees, and other evidence of competence to teach at the doctoral level in a subject area are required. A copy of the CNME's Handbook of Accreditation may be obtained by sending a request to cnme@bellsouth.net It is also available electronically in pdf format.
	The committee members and the chairman conducted a second lengthy review of SB1300, and questioned and explored many areas of concerns.
MOTION:	A motion was made by Senator Bailey to send SB1300 to the 14^th Order. The motion was seconded by Senator Kennedy. Discussion: Term of "doctor" implies a high degree of education; x-rays; treatments of superficial injuries; prescribed drugs and drug therapy and how they relate to people's health; this type legislation should not be formulated by the Senate on the amending order; Section 6, page 4, exemptions be removed from the bill. Further questions were asked and considered.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION:	A substitute motion was made by Senator Burkett to Hold SB1300 in Committee until next year. The motion was seconded by Senator Darrington. A roll call vote was requested by Chairman Brandt. Senators Burkett, Sweet, Darrington and Duncan voted AYE. Senators Kennedy, Bailey, Ingram, and Brandt voted NAY. Senator Stegner was absent and excused. The substitute motion failed with a vote of 4 Ayes, 4 Nays, 1 absent.
ORIGINAL MOTION:	A roll call vote was taken on the original motion made by Senator Bailey and seconded by Senator Kennedy to send SB1300 to the Amending Order. Senators Kennedy, Bailey, Ingram, and Brandt voted Aye. Senators Burkett, Sweet, Darrington, and Duncan voted Nay. Senator Stegner was absent and excused. The original motion failed with a vote of 4 Ayes, 4 Nays, 1 absent.

Jared Zeff's letter to the Journal of Naturopathy (1997)

2008-05-27T15:06:00.005-05:00

TO THE EDITOR:
I just returned from a two hour session with a friend and colleague at the University of Vermont Medical School. Helen Longevin, MD, is an endocrinologist who is also trained in acupuncture and is an active proponent of complementary medicine. In fact, her job at UVM is in researching acupuncture. She was given the task recently of reviewing journals for possible inclusion in UVM’s medical library holdings. Proudly, I provided her with the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine. Today she gave me interesting feedback which I want to share. I offer it in respect and with the sole intention of improving our profession and advancing our relationship with the public and with the conventional medical community.
Dr. Longevin has a great deal of experience reviewing articles for peer-reviewed journals; specifically she did this during her fellowship at John Hopkins Medical Center for JAMA. Today she walked me step by step through the process of what makes a good peer-reviewed journal, and what makes a good article.
According to Dr. Longevin, a good article, including theoretical ones, need to be well supported, documented and easy to understand for physicians unfamiliar with the topic presented. Even for theoretical articles, theories need to be clearly stated as such and supported with data. In fact, every sentence in a reputable journal needs to be either 1) common knowledge by the audience, which is presumed to be physicians, not necessarily with expertise in the topic; 2) thoroughly explained or elemental science such as biochemical pathways; or 3) documented by citations. Citations, in turn, should be from recent, available journals (i.e., in English and reputable). When these are not available, foreign articles or textbooks may be cited, although this weakens the article. When no data is available (and the writer must have exhaustively researched this in order to make such a statement) this must be stated.
Dr. Longevin did not recommend our journal for inclusion in the library’s holdings. She used several examples from Dr. Jared Zeff’s recent article, “The process of healing: A unifying theory of naturopathic medicine” (Journal of Naturopathic Medicine 1997; 7(1):122-5), in explaining her evaluation.
She specifically pointed out the paragraphs on toxemia as problematic. First, the concept is not common knowledge by all physician readers, and its not describing indisputable elemental science. Therefore, it needs to be well-supported with citations. She walked me through every sentence in those paragraphs, and said that all of them needed to be documented. For example: “These products (toxins) are absorbed into the blood (needs citation or proof), become a cause of tissue irritation (again, needs a citation-what tissues? how? has it been measured?) and thereby the physical basis of most chronic inflammation (needs support), which ultimately will increase one’s susceptibility to acute disease (lots of proof needed here)” (page 124).
Even if this is theory, apparently there needs to be significant evidence supporting it. Otherwise, medical people just toss out the information, even if it is accurate. I happen to believe and use in practice with my patients the part about the effect of adrenal activity on digestion. But in a theoretical article, every sentence needs to be backed-up – otherwise we are in a sense making unsubstantiated claims.
It’s a laborious process, Dr. Longevin admitted, but if we’re going to hold up under scrutiny that we’re definitely going to face from the medical profession, we can’t take short cuts. She assured me, and I believe this, that we will only strengthen our profession by applying more rigorous standards to our research and our writing.
I think we’re in a position now with our profession to undergo some critical review. If we don’t, THEY will. I’m fortunate that I know some people deeply steeped in the medical research model here that are actually on our side, and want to train us in how to use their language-especially since we’ve stepped into the world of peer-reviewed journals they invented and are so good at creating. Despite the narrow focus of this letter I would like to say I enormously appreciate Dr. Zeff’s contribution and his attempts to bring unity into our field.

Lorilee Schoenbeck, ND
Champlain Center for Natural Medicine
2 Harbor Rd.
Shelburne, VT 05482
802-985-8250

TO THE EDITOR:
Dr. Schoenbeck’s sincere and thoughtful letter asks one of the most significant questions facing our profession: what is a naturopathic physician? Dr. Longevin’s observations regarding my article contains some criticisms and advice, though there is a significant difference in our points of view. But they point to a major problem in naturopathic medicine.
I hold an assumption which may no longer be valid – that naturopathic medicine is a separate and distinct branch of the healing arts, and as such has a body of knowledge separate and distinct from other branches of these arts. I practice neither complementary nor alternative medicine. I am not a holistic physician. I am a naturopathic physician. A naturopathic physician is a defined entity. As a separate and distinct branch of healing, we have separate and distinct assumptions, and a separate and distinct body of knowledge. We share a body of knowledge with other healing arts, such as the basic medical sciences. But, we are not the same. We are different. The most obvious difference is our understanding of suppression, either shared nor respected by standard medical doctors. Suppression is discussed in the AANP “Unifying Definition of Naturopathic Medicine” (1989) as harmful. We understand that it violates the process of healing, but may occasionally be necessary to save life. We understand that suppression of acute disease is a significant cause of chronic disease. Medical doctors, on the other hand, base much of their work on suppression - suppression of inflammation, fever, infection, etc. – and seek more and more powerful ways to suppress the symptomatic expression of disease, and see successful suppression as cure. We do not, or at least I do not. I see it as a significant harm, and the major iatrogenic cause of illness in our society.
Another difference is the recognition of toxemia. Although the concept of toxemia is not a part of the body of knowledge presented in conventional medical schools, as evidenced by Dr. Longevin’s comments, all first year naturopathic students are presented with this concept. Some of the presentation relies upon outdated materials, such as the naturopathic texts of 75 and 100 years ago – Lindlahr, Tilden, and so forth. But in my first year philosophy course, along with these, I recommend reading Drasar and Hill’s Human Intestinal Flora (1974), and demonstrate some of the biochemical pathways of the generation of metabolic toxins in the gut through dysbiotic bacterial action upon poorly digested food. This can be measured via such methods as urinary indican and urinary phenol tests, comprehensive stool analysis, etc. We teach the testable assumption that toxemia is a cause of disease.
I assume that toxemia should be “common knowledge of the audience,” which I presume to be naturopathic physicians. Clearly, this concept is not common knowledge of Dr. Longevin or her medical colleagues. Nor would I expect it to be. This concept, and the science behind it, is taught at naturopathic medical schools. The biochemistry toxemia, published in the conventional literature, is ignored by standard American medical science. It is ignored not because the science is not there, but because it does not fit the dogma of modern American medicine. This information is neither new nor “unscientific”. It has recently been recognized as a mechanism in the generation of gut cancer even in the Merck Manual (16th edition), though the model was clearly elaborated 20 years ago.
I do not pretend that these concepts are really common knowledge among our colleagues, because I see in practice that they are not, and for me this is the real issue. They are rarely if ever discussed in our college clinics. I see that many of my colleagues have abandoned what I consider the fundamentals of naturopathic medicine for the acceptability of conventional medical assumptions and relationships.
I wrote my article primarily because I wanted to present to my colleagues what I considered a significant observation about the working of our medicine. This is expressed in what I called “the hierarchy of therapeutics,” and what is called “the therapeutic order” at Bastyr University. There is an order to the process of healing, which requires certain things to be done before others to maximize the effectiveness of the therapeutics. It is this order of application, which is most often violated in practice. The current therapeutic goal in naturopathic medicine often seems to be to make the correct diagnosis, in standard medical terms, and treat with the correct set of supplements, or the correct homeopathic remedy or botanical tincture, or refer correctly if the patient is really ill, but ignore the vis medicatrix naturae and how it functions. This is tragic, in my opinion, because we could all be curing the difficult cases rather than referring them for suppressive treatment. Instead, our students are taught that this basic naturopathic medicine is not possible, not acceptable, not valid, and not scientific.
The assumptions of “scientific” and “unscientific,” also require some examination. The scientific method is simple, and contains four elements: the statement of a problem, the formulation of a testable hypothesis, the testing of the hypothesis, and the observations or conclusions derived from the testing. For the most part, journals are the common forum for the presentation of such observations. What I presented was a theory, based upon my observations and tested in my practice for nearly 20 years. I presented it as a model of process, and ended my article with the statement that I thought this was testable. My concern is not to rebut Dr. Longevin’s criticism. I am concerned, though, about this profession and its future. I believe that we are in a process of abandoning our foundational truths for the sake of compatibility with standard medicine, insurance payers, and HMO’s. If we do so, we lose the power and richness of our medicine. It was to my colleagues that I wrote an article regarding the workings of our medicine, to stimulate thought and criticism of the ideas I presented. I put forth what I think of as a unifying theory of how our medicine works, which organizes our therapeutics upon the natural processes of healing. I wrote it not to convince medical doctors that we are valid or scientific, but to inform my colleagues and stimulate dialogue around the subject. My article was for naturopathic physicians, who, it seems to me, are increasingly taught that we are a kind of sub-branch of conventional medicine, “complementary,” secondary and supportive.
I recently received a letter from a third year student at National College who was concerned that she was being instructed to treat “serious infections,” such as strep, with antibiotics. Many of us have demonstrated that we can effectively and efficiently treat strep without the suppressive effect of antibiotics, by eliminating the susceptibility in the host and stimulating the immune function. But our students are being taught to see themselves as somehow a kind of “junior” medical doctor, someone who uses gentle treatments in minor illness, but who must transfer seriously ill patients to the “real” doctors, the MD’s; they are becoming naturopathic physicians who don’t know how to treat infections without antibiotics. Ironically, one of the real values we have to offer the world is that we know how to successfully treat antibiotic-resistant infections.
Let me cite the case of an eight-year-old girl whose mother brought her in with chronic strep infections. She had been off and on antibiotics for several years, and was about to go on a maintenance antibiotic due to these infections. Coincidentally, she had retinitis pigmentosa. I recommended specific dietary changes, and instituted hydrotherapy treatments. The chronic strep ceased: she did not need antibiotics. And her eyes began to improve. She could see at night again. I have followed her case for a year and a half, and her eyes function normally now. My explanation involves the reduction of toxemia through improved digestive efficiency. I cannot prove that toxemia had anything to do with the retinitis pigmentosa, though this is testable. But this is the second case of RP I have seen, and both responded with cessation of the degeneration and continuing improvement, following the application of this basic naturopathic approach.
It is this example that I find my greatest concern for our profession. I see my younger colleagues abandoning our historical methodology for that which is “approved” by conventional science. I see some of our institutional instructors teaching that we can not treat strep except with antibiotics, or cancer except by conventional methods, and that we must refer “serious” cases. The girl with retinits pigmentosa has no hope. She is discarded, sacrificed on the altar of acceptability, so we can appear credible to medical doctors. The truth is that our methodologies are extremely effective and powerful, if our doctors know how to use them. Unfortunately, many do not, they are not well taught, some of our teachers do not believe in them, and the result is obvious.
I am not writing for medical doctors. We fundamentally differ in our underlying assumptions about health and disease, and I have never seen a medical doctor change her mind about our methods and theories by any citation of science. The science was available in the 1950’s regarding toxemia, well established in the 1970’s, and even in the Merck Manual in the 1990’s (albeit in a limited way). It is ignored not because it is unscientific, but because it does not fit the dogma of modern, American medicine. My concern in writing my article was to add a little to help preserve and strengthen this profession, to stimulate thought and maybe even research. I do not give a damn whether the “scientific” medical community agrees with our methods or not. My concern is for the sick people who come into my office, most of them walking away from the failures of standard “scientific” medicine. I am concerned about the tendency I am increasingly seeing in this profession to abandon our traditions because they are not acceptable to Dr. Longevin.

Sincerely,

Jared L. Zeff, ND

Minnesota Statute 147E text posted online

2008-05-26T12:21:00.002-05:00

Statute 147E registers naturopathic doctors in Minnesota effective July 1, 2009.
Section 12 mandates a work group for these purposes:
Sec. 12. NATUROPATHY WORK GROUP.
Subdivision 1. Work group. By September 1, 2008, the commissioner of health
shall convene a work group to develop recommendations and proposed legislation, as
necessary, on regulating naturopathic practitioners who are practicing as naturopathic
medical doctors or physicians and who have postgraduate degrees in naturopathic
medicine. The recommendations must ensure the continued practice of traditional
naturopathy by traditional naturopaths under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 146A. The
recommendations shall include the following issues:
(1) the appropriate level of regulation for practitioners with a postgraduate degree
in naturopathic medicine;
(2) the definitions to be used for the recommended regulatory scheme to ensure the
distinction between the practice of naturopathic medicine and the practice of traditional
naturopathy;
(3) the level of education and training, including appropriate credentialing of
educational programs for the postgraduate degree level of practice;
(4) the scope of practice for naturopathic practitioners with a postgraduate degree in
naturopathic medicine that would be exclusive to these practitioners and would reflect
the level of education and training. The scope of practice must acknowledge and ensure
the continued practice of all complementary and alternative health practices, including
naturopathy, currently practiced under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 146A;
(5) the appropriate regulatory authority, including the possible establishment of a
new regulatory board; and
(6) any other regulatory requirements for naturopathic medicine the work group
deems necessary.

Primum Non Nocere: North Carolina naturopathic doctors appeal to the state Medical Board for support

2008-05-24T07:40:00.005-05:00

The motto of the North Carolina Medical Board is Primum non nocere, "Firtst do no harm", also the first principle of naturopathic medicine.

Now, the proponents of the North Carolina naturopathic doctor regulation bill appeal to the N.C. Medical Board for support:

"Naturopathic physicians and several medical doctors testified before a special committee of the Medical Board in support of the bill, which would set up a separate licensing board for the practice of naturopathic medicine, but only for people like Delaney who have been formally trained. Right now, there are only 22 naturopathic physicians in the state that would qualify.
The only opposition came from the N.C. Medical Society, which questioned whether that small a number of practitioners justifies a separate licensing board.
“We cannot support the bill because in our view, based on our experience over the years, the bill just comes up short,” said Steve Keene, general counsel for the Medical Society.Keene said the Medical Society is willing to work with naturopathic physicians to address the bill’s shortcomings. But that would mean one more delay for this long-sought-after legislation. And it opens the door to opponents in the alternative medicine community who are opposed to regulation."

This hearing is a pre-condition by the NC lawmakers to consider the licensure bill:

"Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, is sponsoring a bill in the General Assembly that would license naturopathic doctors, but lawmakers will consider it only if the medical board and the North Carolina Medical Society consider licensure for naturopaths and provide an official opinion as to whether it is a legitimate form of medical treatment."

From the Governor's Bill Log

2008-05-24T07:10:00.003-05:00

Legislation for 2008
Chapter 348

House 1724
File

Senate (1520)
File

Description Naturopathic doctor registration provided, advisory council established, and money appropriated.

Presented 5/19/08

Signed 5/23/08

1962 Milton Friedman Essay

2008-05-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

Medical Licensure
by Milton Friedman

The medical profession is one in which practice of the profession has for a long time been restricted to people with licenses. Offhand, the question, "Ought we to let incompetent physicians practice?" seems to admit of only a negative answer. But I want to urge that second thought may give pause.

In the first place, licensure is the key to the control that the medical profession can exercise over the number of physicians. To understand why this is so requires some discussion of the structure of the medical profession. The American Medical Association is perhaps the strongest trade union in the United States. The essence of the power of a trade union is its power to restrict the number who may engage in a particular occupation. This restriction may be exercised indirectly by being able to enforce a wage rate higher than would otherwise prevail. If such a wage rate can be enforced, it will reduce the number of people who can get jobs and thus indirectly the number of people pursuing the occupation. This technique of restriction has disadvantages. There is always a dissatisfied fringe of people who are trying to get into the occupation. A trade union is much better off it can limit directly the number of people who enter the occupation-who ever try to get jobs in it. The disgruntled and dissatisfied are excluded at the outset, and the union does not have to worry about them.

The American Medical Association is in this position. It is a trade union that can limit the number of people who can enter. How can it do this? The essential control is at the stage of admission to medical school. The Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association approves medical schools. In order for a medical school to get and stay on its list of approved schools it has to meet the standards of the Council. The power of the Council has been demonstrated at various times when there has been pressure to reduce numbers. For example, in the 1930's during the depression, the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals wrote a letter to the various medical schools saying the medical schools were admitting more students than could be given the proper kind of training. In the next year or two, every school reduced the number it was admitting, giving very strong presumptive evidence that the recommendation had some effect. . . .

Control over admission to medical school and later licensure enables the profession to limit entry in two ways. The obvious one is simply by turning down many applicants. The less obvious, but probably far more important one, is by establishing standards for admission and licensure that make entry so difficult as to discourage young people from ever trying to get admission. . . .

In the first place, does [licensure] really raise standards of competence? It is by no means clear that it does raise the standards of competence in the actual practice of the profession for several reasons. In the first place, whenever you establish a block to entry into any field, you establish an incentive to find ways of getting around it, and of course medicine is no exception. The rise of the professions of osteopathy and of chiropractic is not unrelated to the restriction of entry into medicine. On the contrary, each of these represented, to some extent, an attempt to find a way around restriction of entry. Each of these, in turn, is proceeding to get itself licensed, and to impose restrictions. The effect is to create different levels and kinds of practice, to distinguish between what is called medical practice and substitutes such as osteopathy, chiropractic, faith healing and so on. These alternatives may well be of lower quality than medical practice would have been without the restrictions on entry into medicine.

More generally, if the number of physicians is less than it otherwise would be, and if they are fully occupied, as they generally are, this means that there is a smaller total of medical practice by trained physicians-fewer medical man-hours of practice, as it were. The alternative is untrained practice by somebody; it may and in part must be by people who have no professional qualifications at all. Moreover, the situation is much more extreme. If "medical practice" is to be limited to licensed practitioners, it is necessary to define what medical practice is, and featherbedding is not something that is restricted to the railroads. Under the interpretation of the statutes forbidding unauthorized practice of medicine, many things are restricted to licensed physicians that could perfectly well be done by technicians, and other skilled people who do not have a Cadillac medical training. I am not enough of a technician to list the examples at all fully. I only know that those who have looked into the question say that the tendency is to include in "medical practice" a wider and wider range of activities that might well be done by others. The result is to reduce drastically the amount of medical care. The relevant average quality of medical care, if one can at all conceive of the concept, cannot be obtained by simply averaging the quality of care that is given; that would be like judging the effectiveness of a medical treatment by considering only the survivors; one must also allow for the fact that the restrictions reduce the amount of care. The result may well be that the average level of competence in a meaningful sense has been reduced by the restrictions.

Even these comments do not go far enough, because they consider the situation at a point in time and do not allow for changes over time. Advances in any science or field often result from the work of one out of a large number of crackpots and quacks and people who have no standing in the profession. In the medical profession, under present circumstances, it is very difficult to engage in research or experimentation unless you are a member of the profession. If you are a member of the profession and want to stay in good standing in the profession, you are seriously limited in the kind of experimentation you can do. A "faith healer" may be just a quack who is imposing himself on credulous patients, but maybe one in a thousand or in many thousands will produce an important improvement in medicine. There are many different routes to knowledge and learning and the effect to restricting the practice of what is called medicine and defining it as we tend to do to a particular group, who in the main have to conform to the prevailing orthodoxy, is certain to reduce the amount of experimentation that goes on and hence to reduce the rate of growth of knowledge in the area. What is true for the content of medicine is true also for its organization, as has already been suggested. I shall expand further on this point below.

There is still another way in which licensure, and the associated monopoly in the practice of medicine, tend to render standards of practice low. I have already suggested that it renders the average quality of practice low by reducing the number of physicians, by reducing the aggregate number of hours available from trained physicians for more rather than less important tasks, and by reducing the incentive for research and development. It renders it low also by making it much more difficult for private individuals to collect from physicians for malpractice. One of the protections of the individual citizen against incompetence is protection against fraud and the ability to bring suit in the court against malpractice. Some suits are brought, and physicians complain a great deal about how much they have to pay for malpractice insurance. Yet suits for malpractice are fewer and less successful than they would be were it not for the watchful eye of the medical association. It is not easy to get a physician to testify against a fellow physician when he faces the sanction of being denied the right to practice in an "approved" hospital. The testimony generally has to come from members of panels set up by medical associations themselves, always, of course, in the alleged interest of the patients.

When these effects are taken into account, I am myself persuaded that licensure has reduced both the quantity and quality of medical practice; that is has reduced the opportunities available to people who would like to be physicians, forcing them to pursue occupations they regard as less attractive; that it has forced the public to pay more for less satisfactory medical service, and that it has retarded technological development both in medicine itself and in the organization of medical practice. I conclude that licensure should be eliminated as a requirement for the practice of medicine.

When all this is said, many a reader, I suspect, like many a person with whom I have discussed these issues, will say, "But still, how else would I get any evidence on the quality of a physician. Granted all that you say about costs, is not licensure the only way of providing the public with some assurance of at least minimum quality?" The answer is partly that people do not now choose physicians by picking names at random from a list of licensed physicians; partly, that a man's ability to pass an examination twenty or thirty years earlier is hardly assurance of quality now; hence, licensure is not now the main or even a major source of assurance of at least minimum quality. But the major answer is very different. It is that the question itself reveals the tyranny of the status quo and the poverty of our imagination in fields in which we are laymen, and even in those in which we have some competence, by comparison with the fertility of the market. . . .

The impossibility of any individual or small group conceiving of all the possibilities, let alone evaluating their merits, is the great argument against central governmental planning and against arrangements such as professional monopolies that limit the possibilities of experimentation. On the other side, the great argument for the market is its tolerance of diversity; its ability to utilize a wide range of special knowledge and capacity. It renders special groups impotent to prevent experimentation and permits the customers and not the producers to decide what will serve the customers best.

Professor Friedman, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economic Science, is Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. This is an excerpt from his book Capitalism and Freedom , published in 1962 by The University of Chicago Press. © 1962 by The University of Chicago Press. Reprinted by

2005 MMA (Minnesota Medical Association) Report lists objections to licensing naturopathic medicine

2008-05-18T14:37:00.004-05:00

Naturopathic Physician Licensing Proposal
The committee considered a proposal to establish licensure for naturopathic physicians. Efforts
by naturopaths to obtain state licensure date back to at least 1997. At that time, legislation was
introduced, but it failed to pass because of opposition primarily from the “lay naturopath”
community, many of whom would have been restricted from practice due to the legislation’s
education and training standards. In 2000, renewed interest in establishing some level of state
oversight of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) led to the passage of the
complementary and alternative health care practices act (M.S. § 146A).
The proposed legislation would charge the Board of Medical Practice (BMP) with licensing
responsibilities for “naturopathic physicians.” A “naturopathic physician” (abbreviated as either
ND or NMD) would be defined as one who is authorized and licensed to practice naturopathic
medicine, which is defined as follows:
“A system of primary health care practiced by naturopathic physicians for the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of human health conditions, injuries, and diseases that uses education,
lifestyle counseling, nutrition, naturopathic obstetrics, naturopathic physical medicine, natural
derived medicines, minor surgery, and pharmaceutical agents.” (Section 1 of 147E.01 – draft
legislation).
Committee members reviewed the specifics of the legislation and the proposed scope of practice
under the legislation, and discussed the proposal with representatives from the naturopathic
community.
The committee acknowledged that licensure and its concomitant educational and training
standards might offer some protection to the public by distinguishing more formally trained
naturopaths from “lay” or untrained naturopaths. Licensure, however, also carries with it
perceived state “endorsement” of the practice. The significant expansion in the scope of practice
for licensed naturopaths was a noted and significant concern.
Ultimately, the committee concluded (and the Board agreed) that the MMA should oppose the
naturopathic licensure proposal because of five (5) primary concerns:
1. The proposed scope of practice for licensed naturopaths is a significant expansion and an
infringement on many of the central components of the practice of medicine.
2. The committee failed to see how the licensure proposal would protect the public.
3. Citing increased pressure on physicians to deliver reliable care and reduce variation in
practice, committee members were disappointed to hear representatives from the Minnesota
Association of Naturopathic Physicians assert the unique and individualized nature of
naturopathy and, essentially, to dismiss suggestions for standardization.
4. The committee found the proposed use of the term “naturopathic physician” and the
abbreviation “ND or NMD” to be both inappropriate and confusing to the public.
5. Noting concerns with rising health care costs and the push for greater “evidence-based”
health care, the committee was concerned that licensure (and the admitted desire for thirdparty
reimbursement) would put pressure on limited health care dollars at the possible
expense of more critical health care services.

May 17 2008 5th Engrossment HF1724 text

2008-05-18T14:15:00.002-05:00

Click on the post title, here, or here

I hope everyone has had enough of this for now and will take a break

2008-05-17T14:22:00.001-05:00

Thank you!

It's been said

2008-05-17T11:32:00.002-05:00

that the lobbying team that helped the naturopathic doctors to pass their bill and who worked so incredibly hard are "Fantastic" and "Best Ever".
They deserve everyone's respect ( all sides ) and tremendous gratitude from the naturopathic doctors.
I hope everyone feels relieved that this incredibly taxing struggle is over and done with, and everyone works together to do what is best for all Minnesotans, which I hope what the mandated work group achieves.
The bill has gone through 12 committee hearings, which is exceedingly rare.
Thank you!

And the good news is, HF 1724 passes!

2008-05-16T16:34:00.002-05:00

Naturopathic Doctors will be registered in Minnesota effective July 1, 2009.
Senator Torres Ray introduced amendment 850, changing the composition of the workgroup
to include 3 members each from the MNANP and the MNHLRP, and setting the registration
effective date to the original July 1, 2008. This passed.
Senator B. Dille introduced the amendment 852, pushing the effective date forward to July 1, 2009. This amendment passed as well.

Senator Torres Ray did a wonderful job on the Senate floor.
Senator Berglin also defended registration of naturopaths.

The opposition did a great job fighting on behalf of well, I am not sure
exactly who, they are a shady bunch. The workgroup will give them a chance to come out
of the shadows and show everyone who they are.
The opposing Senators were organized and executed well.
They were Senators Robling, Dille, Fischbach, (someone else?), and Vickerman.
As much as I hated what they were trying to accomplish, it was great political theater.
Thank you Senator Torres Ray for standing up to their onslaught and holding your ground.
You were great!

Low points of May 13 Senate Finance Amendment

2008-05-16T15:49:00.003-05:00

Thank you Senator Torres Ray for providing outstanding leadership during the Full Senate Vote.
Sen. Torres Ray introduced Amendment 850 (text not available at the moment)
amending the May 13 Senate finance committee amendment:

Here are the low points of the May 13 massacre:
the bill be amended as follows:
Page 4, line 33, delete "N.D.,"
"Sec. 11. NATUROPATHY WORK GROUP.
Subdivision 1. Work group. By September 1, 2008, the commissioner of health shall convene
a work group to develop recommendations and proposed legislation, as necessary, on regulating
naturopathic practitioners who are practicing as naturopathic medical doctors or physicians and
who have postgraduate degrees in naturopathic medicine. The recommendations must ensure the continued practice of traditional naturopathy by traditional naturopaths under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 146A. The recommendations shall include the following issues:
(1) the appropriate level of regulation for practitioners with postgraduate degree in naturopathic
medicine;
(2) the definitions to be used for the recommended regulatory scheme to ensure the distinction
between the practice of naturopathic medicine and the practice of traditional naturopathy;
(3) the level of education and training, including appropriate credentialing of educational
programs for the postgraduate degree level of practice;
(4) the scope of practice for naturopathic practitioners with postgraduate degrees in naturopathic medicine that would be exclusive to these practitioners and would reflect the level of education and training. The scope of practice must acknowledge and ensure the continued practice of all complementary and alternative health practices, including naturopathy, currently practiced under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 146A;
(5) the appropriate regulatory authority, including the possible establishment of a new regulatory board; and
(6) any other regulatory requirements for naturopathic medicine the work group deems
necessary.
Subd. 2. Membership and operation of working group. (a) The work group shall consist of
the following members:
(1) twomembers appointed by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians,Minnesota chapter;
(2) two members appointed by the Coalition for Natural Health, Minnesota chapter;
(3) one member appointed by the American Naturopathic Medical Association, Minnesota chapter;
(4) one member appointed by the Minnesota Homeopathic Association;
(5) one member appointed by the Acupuncture Association of Minnesota;
(6) one member appointed by the Minnesota Chiropractic Association;
(7) one member appointed by the Minnesota Medical Association who is a practicing physician
trained in natural healing methods;
(8) one member appointed by the Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine who is practicing as a traditional naturopath; and
(9) onememberwho is a consumer of naturopathic treatment appointed by theMinnesotaNatural Health Legal Reform project.
...
The work group shall
complete its recommendations by December 15, 2008, and the commissioner shall submit a report containing the work group's recommendations and proposed legislation to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over health care by January 15, 2009.
Page 12, line 17, delete "11" and insert "12" and delete "2008" and insert "2009"

Let's tally these workgroup's composition. Assuming the representatives from the homeopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and medical doctors are not biased, this amendment stacks
the workgroup 5 to 2 with the opponents of regulating naturopathic doctors.
This is what MNHLRP call 'FAIR' and 'this is a good compromise'.

Open Letter

2008-05-15T22:32:00.020-05:00

Dear Minnesotan,
HF1724 ,supported by the naturopathic doctors in Minnesota,  has successfully passed the House on May 7, 2008 and is ready for its third reading on the Senate floor.
The measure is very moderate and would allow qualified naturopathic doctors to perform simple physical exams and order medical lab tests, and to protect titles 'Doctor of Naturopathy' ,'Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine', and their abbreviations,  'N.D.' and 'N.M.D.', just as Minnesota Statute 147.081 reserves titles 'medical doctor', and 'M.D' for the individuals who met certain educational and testing requirements.
The May 13 amendment ,introduced in the Senate finance committee, removes 'N.D.' from the protected titles.
This is equivalent to reserving title 'medical doctor' to the  graduates of the University of Minnesota Medical School, but allowing anybody to identify themselves as John Doe, M.D., without any restrictions whatsoever.
This 'N.D.' amendment is in the interests of a special interest group, the unaccredited diploma mills and the individuals who scam the public with fake credentials.
The U.S. Senate  had examined  "Bogus Degrees"   at the hearings before the committee on governmental affairs on May 11 and 12, 2004.
Unscrupulous individuals do use bogus naturopathic medical degrees to gain public trust.  This does result in tragedy.
Recent Seattle Times special report  looks at such occurrences, and the shadowy bogus credentials industry.
Naturopathic doctors supporting HF1724 are all graduates of 4-year post-graduate naturopathic medical schools.  All of their schools are accredited by  CNME, the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education,  the sole body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accrediting agency for professional programs leading to Naturopathic Doctor and Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degrees,  the N.D. and N.M.D., just as the U.S. Department of Education recognizes  LCME, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as the sole agency accrediting programs leading to M.D. degree.
On the other  hand, the bogus schools producing fake credentials are recognized as fakes by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation . Various states, Michigan in this example, use the CHEA diploma mill list for the purpose of
"...a listing of colleges and universities which are not currently accredited by an accrediting
body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org). Degrees from these
institutions will not be accepted by the Civil Service Commission as satisfying any educational
requirements indicated on job specifications. Please note that this list is not all inclusive;
unaccredited schools will be added as we become aware of them.", to verify one's educational credentials.
On this list,  you will find CCNH of Birmingham, Alabama, "the Clayton College  of Natural Health – Alabama, page 5, Revised 4/23/2008".
Stephen Barrett, M.D. details CCNH's rich history under rubric "Clayton College of Natural Health: Be Wary of the School and Its Graduates" .
You will NOT find CCNH on the list of the accredited colleges in Alabama, published by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.
CCNH refers to its school of naturopathy as "NOn-Traditionally accredited" and claims to have granted over 10,000 naturopathy degrees and certificates.
There are over 100 unaccredited diploma mills of this sort in the United States, according to the Seattle Times report.
Compare this with accredited naturopathic medical schools that have to provide classrooms, instructors, labs, libraries, etc....  All of them combined only graduate several hundred naturopathic doctors each year.
The diploma mill interests are behind the efforts to deny naturopathic doctors the opportunity to  practice their profession and the fair use of the credentials they earned the old fashioned way -- through hard work.
Please support legitimate naturopathic doctors, the real N.D.s.

C.C.
           

Nature's Sunshine Products under federal investigation

2008-05-14T15:41:00.012-05:00

Just in.

NSP, a Utah MLM company, which to this day publishes on its corporate web servers form letters, written by the MNHLRP's lobbyist Karen Studders, opposing naturopathic doctors registration in Minnesota; whose "Health Freedom" front, the Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation, has been actively involved in the MNHLRP's inflammatory disinformation campaign, issuing so-called "alerts", is being investigated by the Department of Justice and the SEC.
It seems that NSP has not been filing the required company paperwork for the past 3 years.
Filing the paperwork for the the MNHLRP must be a higher priority than taking care of their own accounting.

But who cares? It's only money.
Probably nothing to worry about, as long as you remember to "Be Happy".

What else opposes regulating naturopathy besides the bogus diploma mills and the MLMs? Please read on.

2008-05-14T07:24:00.024-05:00

It's Miracle Devices.
Search online for 'miracle devices' and you'll get this Seattle Times investigative report.
Get to know William Nelson. you might find him as fascinating as I did.
Not only was he the NASA scientist who took the fated 'Houston, we have a problem" call from the Apollo 13 astronauts and saved their lives by quickly performing math calculations, he now stars in his own movies.
If his educational credentials do not convince you of his brilliance, his
singing surely will. It must be a balm for both minds and hearts of the politicos who took up opposing regulating naturopathic doctors.
Online search shows 'traditional'(i.e. bogus diploma) NDs in Minnesota advertising the FDA banned devices profiled in the report, the very same individuals who vehemently oppose regulating naturopathic doctors.
The FDA and the U.S. Congress Energy and Commerce subcommittee have launched dual investigations into bogus energy medicine devices. According to a newspaper article, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee "is "horrified" that thousands of dubious and dangerous devices have slipped into the U.S. health-care system, and that hundreds of unlicensed health-care operatives are blatantly marketing illegal treatments. He hopes to broaden the congressional hearings to explore why the FDA and state regulators failed to confiscate or warn the public about another fraudulent and illegal device".
Part 3 of the Seattle Times report details bogus naturopathic doctor degree mills and accreditation boards.

Support Naturopathic Doctors and SF1520! 3 reasons the "workgroup" proposal from the MNHLRP is groundless.

2008-05-10T10:51:00.009-05:00

Reason 1. This is only a ploy to kill SF1520.
The legislators have listened to every sides' arguments, and suffered from a barrage of questions from the citizens who were incited by the MNHLRP's deliberate misinformation campaign.
The Minnesota House voted 90-42 in support of the bill.
The 'workgroup' proposal is the MNHLRP's latest trick to kill SF1520.

Reason 2. The State of Minnesota has already reviewed prior legislation to
regulate naturopathic doctors. The Case Studies of Occupational
Regulation (see text below) examined the progress of legislation proposed in
1987 and 1997.
In 1987, the legislation stalled because it was thought that the 5 naturopathic
doctors then residing in Minnesota would not be able to support an independent
Board. Since then, the naturopathic doctors have sought to work under the Board
of Medical Practice, thus eliminating the core objection in 1987.
In 1997, when the legislation failed again, the most vocal opposition came from unlicensed practitioners who objected to proposed title protection for 'naturopath'.
In 2008, the naturopathic doctors amended their bill to not seek title protection
for 'naturopath', thus eliminating the stated objection from 1997. Furthermore,
the enactment of the CAM Law, Statute 146A in 1999 protects these unlicensed
practitioners. The proposed 2008 legislation, SF1520, explicitly affirms Statute 146A and acknowledges the right to practice naturopathic modalities of care
for everyone.

Reason 3. The substance of the 'workgroup' proposal itself is outrageous.
It states "A work group could provide licensed and unlicensed practitioners the incentive to sit down, discuss, and evaluate the appropriate level of education, training and regulation (registration or licensure) needed for naturopathic physicians who seek to practice naturopathic medicine".
The Minnesota Dept. Health examined the naturopathic doctors' educational
credentials in 1997 (see scanned images at the bottom, click to enlarge) and
stated: The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as the national accrediting agency for the programs leading to the Doctor of Naturopathy and Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degrees.
The U.S. Department of Education website documents every school that naturopathic doctors attend and lists all accredited programs in detail in
the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs, http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.
On the other hand, the opponents of the regulation for naturopathic physicians, led by the MNHLRP in Minnesota and the Council for Natural Health nationwide (as also stated in the 1997 Dept. of Health Report, see below) represent the interests of unaccredited diploma mills such as Clayton College of Natural Health in Alabama.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (chea.org) lists unaccredited
schools, including Clayton. Clayton also appears in various state databases and
lists of unaccredited schools available online (Oregon, Michigan, Maine).
From the the State of Michigan document, http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Non-accreditedSchools_78090_7.pdf:
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES NOT ACCREDITED BY CHEA
This is a listing of colleges and universities which are not currently accredited by an accrediting
body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org). Degrees from these
institutions will not be accepted by the Civil Service Commission as satisfying any educational
requirements indicated on job specifications. Please note that this list is not all inclusive;
unaccredited schools will be added as we become aware of them.
*
*
*
Clayton College of Natural Health – Alabama
*
*
*
(page 5, Revised 4/23/2008)
It would be a real travesty to have the representatives of unaccredited diploma
mills dictate to those whose professional education is recognized the U.S. Dept.
of Education what constitutes "proper level of education and training".

Please support naturopathic doctors and SF1520!

Documentation:

Case Studies of Occupational
Regulation
LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS IN 1997 AND 1998
APPENDIX B
http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/9905apb.pdf
NATUROPATHIC DOCTORS
Naturopathic
physicians have
sought licensure
in recent years.
Naturopathic doctors (NDs or naturopaths) are defined as “trained specialists in a
separate and distinct healing art which uses non-invasive natural medicine.”6
Naturopathic doctors are currently licensed in nine states,7 but they are not
regulated in Minnesota. Efforts of naturopaths to secure licensure in Minnesota
can be traced back to an unsuccessful proposal in 1909. However, after the
passage of the Basic Sciences Act in 1927, naturopaths who passed the Basic
Sciences Examination were entitled to registration. In 1974 much of the Basic
Sciences Act was repealed, including the registration of naturopathic doctors.8
Naturopaths have again sought licensure in recent years. In 1987 the Minnesota
Association of Naturopathic Physicians (MANP) submitted a proposal for
licensure under an independent board of Naturopathic Physician Examiners to the
then-operative Human Services Occupations Advisory Council (HSOAC).9 The
HSOAC’s final report declined to recommend state regulation, although a tie vote
by the council narrowly defeated a recommendation for the registration of
naturopathic doctors. According to the HSOAC report, the proposal failed
primarily on the cost effectiveness criterion in Chapter 214, since it would have
been difficult for the five naturopaths in Minnesota who would have qualified for
regulation at that time to provide the fee revenue necessary to support an
independent board.
Another proposal for licensing naturopaths was presented to the Legislature in
1997.10 The proposal was modeled after the acupuncturists’ practice act and
proposed regulation through an advisory board to the Board of Medical Practices.
This proposal was partially motivated by disciplinary actions brought by the
Board of Medical Practices against a practicing ND. This particular ND
acknowledged that she was performing activities reserved by statute for medical
doctors, but correctly pointed out that the practice act for physicians is extremely
broad. She argued that as a graduate of a four-year post-graduate program in
naturopathy her training was rigorous and adequately prepared her to provide the
services that she had provided. Indeed, the extensive training required by the
National Council on Naturopathic Education serves as the basic justification
92 OCCUPATIONAL REGULATION

offered by proponents of licensure. Ironically, the educational requirements also
served as the greatest impediment to the 1997 proposal. Among the most forceful
opposition to the bill was a diverse group of alternative medical practitioners,
many who use the title “naturopath.” Most if not all naturopaths who actively
opposed the proposal would not have met the educational requirements, and
feared possible restrictions on their practices if the proposal passed. Ultimately,
the 1997 proposal received hearings but did not win approval. However, it did
provide impetus for a report on Complimentary and Alternative Medicine by the
Minnesota Department of Health, which concluded that there is not presently
enough information to justify government regulation of naturopaths or other
alternative medical providers.11
The case of naturopathic doctors reveals some of the difficulty that smaller
professional groups face in attempting to gain state regulation. Given that the
most vocal opposition to the bill came from other practitioners of naturopathy, the
proposal to license “qualified” naturopathic doctors also illustrates the way
occupational regulation can be used to “fence out” potential competitors.
However, the same could be said of the long-established regulation of medical
doctors: the medical doctors’ practice act effectively prevents naturopathic
physicians from exercising the full scope of practice in which they have been
trained.
The case of naturopaths also provides an example of the Legislature using a report
to inform its decisions regarding occupational regulation. In some ways this
demonstrates the ability of the Legislature to implement studies on an “as needed”
basis, which would seem to negate the need to establish a more institutionalized
sunrise review process, as we recommend in Chapter 3. However, the report
casted a broad net and concluded with a blanket recommendation against
regulating any of the professions providing complementary and alternative
medical services. While the report does represent a laudable attempt to bring
more objective reasoning to bear on the issue, it was not focused on the particular
proposal at hand, as was the more useful HSOAC report issued in response to the
1987 proposal.
APPENDIX B 93
6 Wendell W. Whitman, N.D., M.Di., “What is a Naturopath,” WWW document, URL
http://www.cnra.org/what.is.a.naturopath.html, December 8, 1998. Mr. Whitman is an associate
of the Council on Naturopathic Registration and Accreditation, based in Washington D.C. His
definition of Naturopathic Doctors continues: “... Naturopathic doctors are conventionally trained
in subjects such as anatomy, physiology, counseling, dietary evaluations, nutrition, herbology,
acupressure, muscle relaxation and structural normalization, homeopathy, iridology, exercise
therapy, hydrotherapy, oxygen therapy and thermal therapy. Some practitioners are also trained in
additional specialties such as acupuncture or natural childbirth.”
7 Smith-Peters, The Directory of Professional and Occupational Regulation in the United
States.
8 Complementary Medicine: A Report to the Legislature, (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department
of Health, Health Economics Program, January 15, 1998).
9 Human Services Occupations Advisory Council Recommendations on the Regulation of Naturopathic
Physicians, (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Health, October 27, 1988). The
Staff Recommendation and Commissioner’s Determination that normally accompanied HSOAC
reports were not made in this case since funding for the study was stopped prior to completion.
10 H.F. 396/S.F. 523 and H.F. 780/S.F. 561.
11 Complementary Medicine: A Report to the Legislature. The study was mandated through an
amendment to the 1997 Omnibus Health and Human Services Appropriations Act - Minn. Laws
(1997) ch. 203, sec. 3, subd. 2.

Complementary medicine : final report to the Legislature.
St. Paul, Minn. : Health Economics Program, Minnesota Dept. of Health
OCLC Number: 38946716
Minn. Pub. Number: 98-0251
http://archive.leg.state.mn.us/docs/pre2003/mandated/980251.pdf

Please Support Naturopathic Doctors in Minnesota and SF 1520! A look at the new 'Action Alert' from the MNHLRP

2008-05-09T12:27:00.013-05:00

Another 'Alert' courtesy of direct-sales Nature Sunshine Products Inc.'s "Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation".
The lunatic fringe that hijacked the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform
Projects agenda lies about being the voice of Minnesotans and Natural Health.
It can not speak for anyone who can reason, which must include the majority of the MNHLRP members.
It only voices its own insanity.
Please oppose hysteria and paranoia!
Please support naturopathic doctors and SF1520!
Comments in bold dark blue.
Please comment.

**Minnesota Alert**

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

May 7, 2008

Please oppose HF 1724 –a bill for naturopathic physician registration.

HF 1724 is listed on the agenda for the House of Representatives. We’re asking for your help to stop this bill on the floor of the House. Please take a moment and copy and paste the three points of this alert and email it to your Representative. Please take the time to email it to as many Reps as you can.

Honorable Representative,

I am a constituent writing you about HF 1724 – a bill for naturopathic physician registration.

1. There is HUGE CONTROVERSY out there amongst citizens, The CITIZENS have not been properly heard!
You made up a pile of lies and have been bombarding everyone non-stop with your insane rantings. So much for the controversy.

2. The public is already protected under Mn. Stat. 146A – The Complementary and Alternative Health Care act overwhelmingly passed by this legislature in 2000.

That is how it should be. 146A protects unlicensed healers. It does NOT forbid naturopathic doctors, who are regulated as a distinct profession in many states, from developing their profession in Minnesota and seeking recognition. It does NOT create a cartel to stop naturopathic doctors's registration at any cost.

3. This bill will put these naturopaths under the jurisdiction of the Board of Medical practices. This jeopardizes the whole field of Natural Health because the Board of Medical Practice does not have a history of sympathy for or understanding of Natural Health.

Are you trying to kill naturopathic doctors' legislation, HF1724/SF1520, for their own benefit? So that the Board of Medical

Practice does not molest them? What a load of rubbish! If the public, which by the way includes medical profession, believes that your

lunatic fringe represents 'Natural Health', that is terrible news.

Shouting non-stop lies does not make you the voice of the public, or

natural health, it only demonstrates how crazy you are.

You are your own worse enemy. The more people hear your brain-dead proclamations, the less they are likely to support you.

The Minnesota House overwhelmingly voted to support naturopathic

doctors and passed HF 1724 90 to 42, May 7th!

Sincerely,

(insert your name, address and phone number)

To find your Representative, visit this link:

http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html

For a list of all Representatives by District, visit this link:

http://www.gis.leg.mn/php/house.php?Report=HouseMem

Click on the name of the Representative for their contact information.

Thank you so much for all your help. Please contact us with any questions and please communicate back to us any feedback you receive from Representatives.

Sincerely,

MNHLRP

651-322-4542

mnhlrp@charter.net

*************************************************************************************************************************************

WEDNESDAY MAY 1, 2008

Dear Concerned Citizens:

We have reached a crucial stage in our important fight to stop the threat presented by Senate File 1520 -- a bill for naturopathic registration with licensure to be sought next year. Your personal help is needed NOW!

We need you to make personal calls to the offices of the following state Senators and ask to leave a message that you called to oppose SF 1520, the bill authored by Senator Patricia Torres Ray to register certain naturopaths and permit them to exclusive use of the term “doctor”. We believe the bill would do harm to some of the traditional complementary and alternative health care practices community.

This must be the crux of the matter. In MInnesota, nobody is allowed to present themselves as "Doctor of Naturopathy" under the current statutes. The new bill reserves 'naturopathic doctor' for those who completed 4-year full-time doctorate programs in professionally accredited naturopathic medical schools, and who are eligible to be licensed as naturopathic doctors in many states. This must be too much to bear for the representatives of diploma mills, who confer bogus 'Doctor of Naturopathy' degrees. Their degrees are not recognized by ANY state licensing or professional, or educational accreditation body in any state. This is all that 'controversy' is about. So much for looking after the citizens of Minnesota.

Please ask to leave a short, respectful courteous message with the Senator’s assistant or on their voice mail. Calling the number after hours and leaving a voice mail message is perfectly acceptable.

Your work really matters! If you can make 20 phone calls, you can be a critical part of stopping this bill!

A work group could provide licensed and unlicensed practitioners the incentive to sit down, discuss, and evaluate the appropriate level of education, training and regulation (registration or licensure) needed for naturopathic physicians who seek to practice naturopathic medicine, while ensuring that naturopathy and the other complementary and alternative health care practices (CAP) remain in the public domain, and can be practiced by traditional naturopaths and other unlicensed complementary and alternative practitioners.

This is the opponents' last chance to kill the bill. The bill does not change what anyone can do under 146A in any way. Minnesota state agencies studied the subject in 1998 and 1987. To have controversy, there must be opposing views.

All states regulating naturopathic doctors use similar standards. The proposal for 'workgroup' is to have representatives of unaccredited diploma mills, such as Boyd Landry, to dictate what constitutes
proper education for trained naturopathic doctors, who attend schools accredited by a U.S. Department of Education recognized professional board. If anyone were to try argue before any state educational accreditation agency which examines validity of one's educational credentials to accept any degree from an unaccredited correspondence school they would be ridiculed.

YOUR MESSAGE IS:

It should read: I am totally crazy and have no idea what I am talking.

“I/We oppose Senate File 1520, the natural health care regulation bill. Further study and agreement among the affected parties is needed for any legislation to be appropriate and acceptable to practitioners and consumers. The bill in its current form must be opposed unless it is replaced with an interim working group”.

Please call the offices of:

Thank you for your very important help. If you can also email or call other Senators, so much the better. A complete list of the Senate Finance committee is above.

If you need more background, please see the one page summary of our position that is being used at the Capitol that is set out below.

************************************************************************

SF Naturopathic Doctor Registration Bill – 1520/HF 1724

1. Why is this bill so controversial?

Citizens and practitioners are concerned that the real intent behind this registration bill is to remove naturopathy and many of the modalities practiced safely under existing law from the list of complementary and alternative health care practices (CAP) that unlicensed providers can offer. This concern is based upon the following facts:

v The bill contains a broad scope of practice which overlaps into other licensed and unlicensed practice areas.
(1) This overlap has not been vetted with unlicensed CAP practitioners and
(2) Amendments to clarify this scope of practice have been refused by the proponents.

v The bill originally was introduced as a licensure bill.

v The authors and the proponents have stated that they wish “naturopathic physicians” to be licensed under Minnesota law. Recent bill introductions indicate a clear intention to limit who can practice naturopathy.

Are If there is another bill that concerns you, please take this up with the author of that bill!

v Citizens and unlicensed CAP practitioners who vigorously oppose this bill desire to continue to access and provide “naturopathy”, as practiced by traditional naturopaths for centuries which “does no harm”. Traditional naturopaths have no desire to be trained in or to prescribe prescription drugs and/or perform surgical techniques. They should be permitted to continue to serve the public in their respective careers and modalities without fear or interference of a creeping registration/licensure campaign.

SF 1520 is carefully worded to make sure that anyone protected under current CAM Law, 146A, will not have any

of his or her rights jeopardized under proposed legislature. Please read what it says!

2. a working group is the most sensible way to move forward:

The naturopathic physicians desire to be licensed, with oversight by the Medical Board, practice naturopathic medicine, and to be able to use the title “doctor.” These 20 naturopathic physicians desire to perform invasive medical practices i.e., surgery, prescribing prescription drugs, and childbirth, all of which warrant further regulation (registration or licensure) by the State).

Throughout the progress of this bill in both houses more questions have arisen than have been answered. More and more interested parties are becoming aware of the legislation and expressing their concerns. To avoid what has happened in this process, the Legislature passed Chapter 214 requiring extensive study before such legislation can proceed.

A work group could provide licensed and unlicensed practitioners the incentive to sit down, discuss, and evaluate the appropriate level of education, training and regulation (registration or licensure) needed for naturopathic physicians who seek to practice naturopathic medicine, while ensuring that naturopathy and the other complementary and alternative health care practices (CAP) remain in the public domain, and can be practiced by traditional naturopaths and other unlicensed complementary and alternative practitioners.

Summary: PURE NONSENSE, through and through, without any rhyme or reason.

Sincerely,

Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project

651-322-4542

mnhlrp@charter.net

An important reason to support SF 1520 and protect the title 'Registered Naturopathic Doctor'

2008-05-08T13:20:00.013-05:00

Please consider the following in support of SF 1520, the naturopathic doctor registration bill in Minnesota.
An unrecognized accreditation board for naturopathic doctors in Washington, D.C., the Council on
Naturopathic Registration and Accreditation, Inc. promotes its "Registered Naturopath" and "Registered Naturopathic Doctor" certifications:
'To be sure of the training of your naturopathic doctor and his/her adherence to natural healing principles, ask your doctor if he/she is a "Registered Naturopathic Doctor." '(from http://www.cnra.org/whatis.php)
The CNRA professional looking website lists certain requirements for registration:

You must hold an N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathy) degree from an accredited school.
You must be currently involved in the naturopathic profession as a practicing naturopath.
If one exists, you should be a member of your state naturopathic organization
You should be a member of a national naturopathic organization.

However, there is no list of accredited schools and the only real requirement appears to be filling out an online form and paying $150.

The benefit to registration (i.e. paying $150) is listing in the practitioner directory linked from the cnra.org website, which in turn appears to be a link to HealthKeepers Online Practitioner Directory Search, , http://www.healthpro.net/HKD/search.html

Here is a telling example,
if we go to the directory, http://www.healthpro.net/HKD/search.html and input Colorado as a keyword (please click on images to enlarge )
You will find the list of presumed 'Registered Naturopathic Doctors' in Colorado:
Please click on the 6th entry from the top to learn something about Dr. Brian O'Connell:
Dr. O'Connell was profiled in the Seattle Times article "Teen's death hastened by practitioner who had bogus diplomas" (please read it online at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004024299_miracle20m0.html)
and is serving 13 years in prison for criminally negligent homicide.
To this day, he is listed in the Council on Naturopathic Registration and Accreditation Inc.'s directory of Registered Naturopathic Doctors, in spite of being tried and convicted 4 years ago!
This clearly shows that contrary to the claims of opponents of SF 1520, the Bill to Register Naturopathic Doctors in Minnesota, naturopathic doctor regulation is a matter of public safety.
SF 1520 will promote public safety of Minnesotans by ensuring that only qualified naturopathic doctors with valid credentials are registered.
Please support SF 1520!

100 Years Ago in Medical Education: The Flexner Report

2008-05-05T12:33:00.005-05:00

The Flexner Report, commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation in 1908 and published in 1910, transformed medical education in the United States.
The Wikipedia has an excellent article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_report
which discusses the state of medical education at the time of the report and the report's consequences, such as closure of many medical schools and the impact on alternative medicine.

The Organic Consumers Association blindly follows the opponents of SF 1520

2008-05-02T19:30:00.005-05:00

The OCA, which reportedly has 850,000 members nationwide, has been co-opted into
the MNHLRP all-out effort to derail the naturopathic doctor regulation bill in Minnesota.
How could circulating lies be in the interests of organic consumers?
The OCA position language to organize grassroots campaign against ND registration is lifted verbatim from the recent MNHLRP letter.
Please contact the OCA to register you concern about their position.

Here is the text http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11852.cfm:

Take Action! Oppose Naturopathic Registration Bill and Grass Roots Request!

Please pass this on to all!!

This is how far the system is degrading. When we have 25 individuals and a pill company, that can make this kind of impact to stop the consumers free choice of health care. Why? Can you say GREED and EGO!

This kind of bureaucratic compost has to be stopped in order for us to keep our choice of health care. In the day of outrageously high costing alopathic health care, which mainly pushes pills to mask the symptoms, us traditional and natural minded Alternative and Complimentary health care providers use more of the earthy and non-synthetic remedies, would still like to be able to keep our scope of practice under the already existing bill 146A.

So if you value your freedom of choice please let your Senators and Representatives know how you stand. They are sitting in St. Paul waiting for your calls and mails. They do not read minds very well and NEED to hear your voice and see your writing! This is how the system works.

So PLEASE do something! Our freedoms are slipping away fast enough with out having our right to choose our own health care taken away.

Thank you, EW Spencer April 26, 2008,

Dear Health Freedom Supporters:

Why we want to oppose this bill:

The original bill was introduced as a licensure bill for 25 naturopaths. Had this form of the bill been accepted and passed ALL PRACTITIONERS would have had to STOP their practice. This bill would have brought ALL natural health care modalities into the Medical Board control.
This original bill was changed to a registration bill for these same 25 naturopaths. Although the bill is no longer licensure, it still contains the harmful language and lists all the modalities in the scope of practice. It is still bringing all modalities listed in the scope of practice to the Medical Board's jurisdiction. When the registered naturopathic doctors seek licensure, the modalities in the scope of practice will have been under the Medical Board for x amount of years and it will be very difficult for an unlicensed professional to practice these modalities without being regulated by the Board of Medicine.
Any practitioner with a Naturopathic Doctor or Diplomat diploma is at immediate risk of loosing the ability to use "N.D." as their title unless the diploma was earned from one of the six schools listed in the bill.
The intention of the original licensure bill was obvious. The 25 naturopaths wanted control of all natural health practices and modalities and they wanted to be regulated as doctors by the Medical Board. There has been no change in the direction of the intention of the registration bill. It, the registration bill, is just a small stepping stone back to the original goal to control and have a monopoly.

Listen to our discussion of this hot issue on the radio Monday April 28, 2008 - details below.

We are making positive headway with the help of your calls, emails and hand delivered letters. It only takes 150 letters to get their attention. Your calls, emails and letters will make the difference! The bill for Naturopathic Registration is going into yet another committee in the House of Representatives and we are calling on you again for your help to STOP it and preserve your right to practice!

Write a letter or email (hand written letter is the best choice) Call the Representatives and Senators on the list and your own Rep. and Senator. Call House Info @ 651-296-2146 Use this link to find your representative .
We need to flood these Legislators with phone calls. Please take a moment and call through the lists provided at the end of the email. Tell Representatives you want "naturopath" and "naturopathy" to remain in the public domain and to oppose HF 1724.
Attend the House Ways and Means hearing - we will send out an email when the date is set.
Spend a day at the Capitol lobbying Representatives - let your voice be heard! Contact us right away if you're interested in this critical grass roots work! 651-322-4542

Please get your calls and emails in by 5:00pm Tuesday April 29, 2008. For hand written/hand delivered letters, please call or email MNHLRP for delivery options. If you're a practitioner, we have additional talking points you will want to include in your communications. Please contact us right away!

Please communicate any comments from members of the House Ways and Means Committee. This information is crucial in lobbying against HF 1724 in Minnesota. So that we may alert you more quickly in the future, please send me your e-mail address. mnhlrp@charter.net 651-322-4542

If your practitioner uses an N.D. after his/her name, please share this action alert with them.

Hear the President of MNHLRP, Gregory Schmidt and Katie Murphy of Healing Insights on KFAI Radio hosted by Kenshasha Kambui on the program "Health Notes"

KFAI Radio Minneapolis FM 90.3 St Paul FM 106.7 Monday April 28, 2008 from 11:00 AM to 12 Noon

Sample Letter(Use your own words and list your own concerns)

Dear Representative [insert name]

Please oppose SF 1520 (hf 1724), a bill to give title and practice protection to a small group of less than 25 naturopaths.

Reasons to oppose this bill:

Here is huge controversy over this bill in the natural health community. The concerns of consumers and traditional natural health care practitioners are ignored in the rush to pass this legislation.
The bill purports to grant "title protection" to about 25 people. In reality the bill threatens the whole underpinning of the natural health community that practices under Minn.Stat. 146A.
The Minnesota legislature recognized that Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) health care practices are natural and do NOT require licensure. Chapter 146A - The Complementary and Alternative Health Care Practices Act -- became law in 2000.
The legislature has revisited this statute in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and fundamentally reaffirmed it. It is working, and should not be changed without justification. The legislation jeopardizes whether "naturopathy" as practiced by "traditional naturopaths" will remain in the public domain - where these complementary and alternative modalities are currently practiced and openly accessed by consumers.
Financially the State should not spend money to protect a small group to have exclusive access to the title of "Doctor". Historically, licensure and registration increases cost of health care.
Licensure and registration has always been brought by a small group of people to secure their economic base. The consuming public is not asking for this legislation.

In this case, the Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians (MnANP), a chapter of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) , is the special interest group that is seeking a monopoly on the practice of naturopathy; the website for the MNANP equates "naturopathic medicine" with "naturopathy."

The registration of this small group of "naturopathic doctors" is only the first step in the ultimate licensing and/or restriction on the entire profession.

Thank you for hearing our concerns at SF 1520/HF 1724.

Respectfully,

[insert your name, address, and phone number]

House Ways and Means Committee Chair: Loren Solberg (DFL) 651-296-2365 rep.loren.solberg@house.mn

Vice Chair: Marsha Swails (DFL) 651-296-1147 rep.marsha.swails@house.mn

Lead-GOP: Mary Liz Holberg (R) 651-296-6926 rep.maryliz.holberg@house.mn

Jim Abeler (R) 651-296-1729 rep.jim.abeler@house.mn

Kathy Brynaert (DFL) 651-296-3248 rep.kathy.brynaert@house.mn

Lyndon Carlson (DFL) 651-296-4255 rep.lyndon.carlson@house.mn

Karen Clark (DFL) 651-296-0294 rep.karen.clark@house.mn

Matt Dean (R) 651-296-3018 rep.matt.dean@house.mn

Steve Drazkowski (R) 651-296-2273 rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mn

Kent Eken (DFL) 651-296-9918 rep.kent.eken@house.mn

Ron Erhardt (R) 651-296-4363 rep.ron.erhardt@house.mn

Mindy Greiling (DFL) 651-296-5387 rep.mindy.greiling@house.mn

Bob Gunther (R) 651-296-3240 rep.bob.gunther@house.mn

Debra Hilstrom (DFL) 651-296-3709 rep.debra.hilstrom@house.mn

Bill Hilty (DFL) 651-296-4308 rep.bill.hilty@house.mn

Thomas Huntley (DFL) 651-296-2228 rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn

Phyllis Kahn (DFL) 651-296-4257 rep.phyllis.kahn@house.mn

Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL) 651-296-0171 rep.margaret.kelliher@house.mn

Ann Lenczewski (DFL) 651-296-4218 rep.ann.lenczewski@house.mn

Carlos Mariani (DFL) 651-296-9714 rep.carlos.mariani@house.mn

Denny McNamara (R) 651-296-3135 rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn

Erin Murphy (DFL) 651-296-8799 rep.erin.murphy@house.mn

Mary Murphy (DFL) 651-296-2676 rep.mary.murphy@house.mn

Dennis Ozment (R) 651-296-4306 rep.dennis.ozment@house.mn

Erik Paulsen (R) 651-296-7449 rep.erik.paulsen@house.mn

Gene Pelowski Jr. (DFL) 651-296-8637 rep.gene.pelowski@house.mn

Anthony "Tony" Sertich (DFL) 651-296-0172 rep.tony.sertich@house.mn

Steve Smith (R) 651-296-9188 rep.steve.smith@house.mn

Ken Tschumper (DFL) 651-296-9278 rep.ken.tschumper@house.mn

Please stand up for reason and support SF 1520 to counter the lies MNHLRP repeats in their new 'Action Alert'

2008-05-02T14:50:00.008-05:00

The Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation posted a new alert on behalf of the MNHLRP,
http://www.sunshinehealthfreedomfoundation.com/page/page/5629935.htm
There is not a shred of reason or truth in this alert, same as all the others.
The Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation is a front for the Nature Sunshine Products Inc., one of the largest diet supplement multi-level marketing companies in the world.
Please send the message to the multi-level marketers from Utah to butt out of Minnesota's affairs!
Please support SF 1520!!

Text in full, with comments in blue:

**Minnesota Alert**

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

May 1, 2008

DID YOU KNOW????
Your right to practice and receive natural health product and therapy is in jeopardy? There are bills currently in session that are jeopardizing our rights!

Attend a free public meeting to hear the truth - read the bills - ask questions.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7TH FROM 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Valley View Middle School
8900 Portland Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55420

Pre-Registration Recommended
by calling 651-322-4542 or emailing mnhlrp@charter.net

Don't Wait Until It's Too Late

*************************************************************************************************************************************

WEDNESDAY MAY 1, 2008

Dear Concerned Citizens:

Your work really matters! If you can make 20 phone calls, you can be a critical part of stopping this bill!

A work group could provide licensed and unlicensed practitioners
What licensed practitioners?
the incentive to sit down, discuss, and evaluate the appropriate level of education, training and regulation (registration or licensure) needed for naturopathic physicians So that people who have no valid educational credentials can dictate what constitutes "appropriate level of education and training" to those who graduated from the only educational institutions recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education as accredited to grant "Naturopathic Doctor" and "Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine"degrees?
who seek to practice naturopathic medicine, while ensuring that naturopathy and the other complementary and alternative health care practices (CAP) remain in the public domain, and can be practiced by traditional naturopaths and other unlicensed complementary and alternative practitioners.SF1520 clearly states that there are no restrictions on anyone who wishes to practice naturopathic modalities.

YOUR MESSAGE IS:

One of the "affected parties", the MNHLRP is run by a group that completely opposes any kind of regulation at all. "The working group" proposal is a gimmick to kill the SF 1520. Please support the naturopathic doctors and SF 1520!

list of the Senate Finance committee is above.

If you need more background, please see the one page summary of our position that is being used at the Capitol that is set out below.

************************************************************************

SF Naturopathic Doctor Registration Bill – 1520/HF 1724

1. Why is this bill so controversial?

v The bill originally was introduced as a licensure bill.

2. a working group is the most sensible way to move forward:

Sincerely,

Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project

651-322-4542

mnhlrp@charter.net

Naturopathic Medicine is Naturopathy

2008-04-30T12:46:00.006-05:00

The opponents of naturopathic registration like to play word games.
The recent MNHLRP Action Alert complains that "the website for theMNANP equates "naturopathic medicine" with "naturopathy."
In fact, most definitions equate naturopathy and naturopathic medicine.
Please examine a simple Google search to define "naturopathy":
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+naturopathy

Definitions of naturopathy on the Web:

The practice of the use of natural substances to provide a healthier balance of internal chemistry.
www.achenet.org/resources/glossary.php

A system of therapy based on preventative care, and on the use of heat, water, light, air, and massage as primary therapies for disease. Some naturopaths use no medications, either pharmaceutical or herbal. Some recommend herbal remedies only. ...
www.medicinenet.com/alternative_medicine/glossary.htm

A form of health care that uses diet, herbs, and other natural methods and substances to cure illness without the use of drugs.
www.olympianlabs.com/html/glossary.aspx

Naturopathic Medicine, or Naturopathy, is a practice of preventing, assessing and treating conditions of the human mind and body. ...
www.wellbeing.com.au/natural_therapies_glossary

A drugless system of treating disease, largely employing natural physical agents or forces, such as air, water, sunshine, etc.
www.dhss.mo.gov/PainManagement/Glossary.html

The discipline of natural medicine and healing through the power of nature and all natural substances.
www.visitmelbourne.com/displayObject.cfm/ObjectID.1918F143-2857-4182-BB59A7817A64AC52/vvt.vhtml

A drugless system of therapy, making use of physical forces such as air, light, water, heat, massage, etc rather than surgery or medicine to treat disease.
www.lamasbeauty.com/glossary/glossary_N.htm

Naturopathic medicine, or naturopathy, is an alternative approach to health care that emphasizes preventive measures to maintain health, patient education, and noninterference with the body's natural healing processes.
www.bcbsmt.com/Providers/providers_specialtydefs-nonphysicians.asp

A holistic medical system that treats health conditions by utilizing what is believed to be the body’s innate ability to heal. Naturopathic physicians aid healing processes by incorporating a variety of natural methods based on the patient’s individual needs.
herbalgram.com/default.asp

Naturopathic Medicine, a primary health-care system, treats health conditions by utilizing the body's inherent ability to heal. ...
www.tlccenter.com/glossary.ivnu

applies to a belief system that holds the body as innately capable of recovering from injury and disease, and that health is the natural state. ...
www.womentowomen.com/womenshealth/alternativemedicine.asp

Naturopathy is used to diagnose and treat people using natural therapies such as nutrition, supplements herbal medicine and homeopathy. The philosophy of naturopathic medicine is to focus on helping the body to heal itself.
www.kera.org/community/onourownterms/tarrantresources.lasso

Naturopathic medicine is a feild of healthcare which works with the body's own self-correcting mechanisms, or efforts to maintain homeostasis. This system of therapy relies on natural remedies.
www.scandiaspa.com/aromatherapy-glossary-terms.html

a method of treating disease using food and exercise and heat to assist the natural healing process
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Naturopaths do practice Naturopathic Medicine.
Please support SF 1520!

Bogus Naturopathic Doctors ARE a public safety issue. Please support SF 1520

2008-04-29T19:23:00.003-05:00

Certain Health Freedom advocates argue that bogus naturopathic doctors are NOT a public safety issue.
Australian courts disagree.
And courts rule, as any competent attorney will tell you.

Naturopath banned for life

Bellinda Kontominas
April 3, 2008

A NATUROPATH who diagnosed a patient with "pesticides" and a "fungal infection" in her blood after analysing a drop of it has been banned from practising alternative medicine after repeatedly exaggerating the benefits of his treatments.

In a series of advertisements in a Manly newspaper early last year, Jeremiah Jeffrey Hunter claimed his "live blood analysis", the examination under high-powered microscope of a single drop of a patient's blood, could reveal "various states of sub-par health".

"Are you sick of being sick? Need a cure?" asked the advertisement, which also included claims that Hunter, 39, was a "doctor of natural medicine" and that his treatment programs worked with a wide range of ailments including skin problems, food allergies, weight control, chronic fatigue syndrome and high blood pressure.

Under the name Jeffrey Dummett, Hunter was acquitted of manslaughter last year after a 37-year-old man with chronic kidney disease died after suspending his conventional treatment to follow the naturopath's regimen.

Hunter was convicted in 2001 for dispensing medical advice he was not qualified to give to a patient at his Lismore practice and for other offences relating to advertisements.

In 2002, Hunter was convicted of 22 offences under the Fair Trading Act for false advertising in Lismore. He was ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines and court costs and was put on a good behaviour bond.

In the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Hunter was banned for life from practising a number of health services, including naturopathy, medical herbalism, iridology and blood analysis, after the advertisements were found to contravene the Fair Trading Act.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/02/1206851011905.html

MLM and Naturopathy: Friends or Foes?

2008-04-29T16:46:00.006-05:00

As the MNHLRP lobbyist Karen Studders says, "the answer is mixed".
Many diet supplement multi-level distributors acquire bogus Doctor of Naturopathy degrees from diploma mills as a marketing ploy for their pyramid schemes.
It is one of the main reasons the MLM companies fight regulating licensable naturopathic doctors.
In contrast, the licensed NDs' professional organizations consider MLM schemes unethical and, in some cases, even expressly prohibit their members from engaging in MLM activities.
Look at the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia Advertising Policy:
http://www.cnpbc.bc.ca/doctors/documents/Advertising%20Policy.pdf

4. Representation
4.1 A Registrant must not:
d. solicit or involve a patient to sell multi-level Marketing products for the direct or indirect
benefit of the Registrant.

Please make a stand for quality health care in Minnesota and support SF 1520!

The phrases MNHLRP repeats to confuse the public. Please become informed and support SF 1520.

2008-04-29T11:41:00.012-05:00

The registration bill opponents' fare is not reasoned arguments, or observations, it is empty words and phrases to alarm the uninformed. The same words repeat again and again to condition a response. When you do become informed, repeating these phrases will not be effective as means to confuse and frighten.
Scope of Practice
The opponents want you to ask: "Why do licensable N.D.s list certain health practices in their scope of practice?".
The scope lists practices one has qualifications to perform.
The naturopathic doctors who graduate from 4 year naturopathic medical schools
have the proper education for the scope they seek.
When you read their scope of practice, take comfort that there are among you
well-trained, gifted individuals who can care for you using all of these practices!
The Special Interest Group behind the Bill, aka the twenty something Naturopathic Doctors
The opponents of the bill like to capitalize on the populist sentiment against special interest groups.
What is special about this interesting group of 26 N.D.s is that they are very open about
who they are, what their educational background is, what they do.
They are not hiding behind anything.
The opposition likes to position themselves as grassroot organization representing public interests. In reality, a small group of zealots has hijacked the MNHLRP agenda. The 'couple hundred naturopaths who went to higher education and
earned abbreviation N.D. after their name' Karen Studders talked about on the radio, are an unknown entity, a group that does not want to be recognized and prefers to hide from public scrutiny. Who knows how many of them are there in reality? 10, 20, 30? There is no documentation available!!
Their lobbyists want to introduce amendments to the registration bill granting them special privileges but refuse to disclose simple facts:
who they are, how many of them there are, what their education and training is, and what
they practice.
Those who misrepresent themselves with bogus titles and fake doctorates from unaccredited correspondence schools are the only ones who will lose from registering naturopathic doctors.

Listen online: KFAI Radio 'Health Notes' talks about N.D. Registration

2008-04-28T12:56:00.005-05:00

The 'STREAM' button below will allow you to listen to the archived show from the KFAI (requires freely available RealPlayer from http://www.real.com/).
Please post your comments.

4/28/2008 Health Notes

Audio Files

MLM company posts another MNHLRP alert. Please fight back and support SF 1520!

2008-04-25T22:20:00.012-05:00

Courtesy of the Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation, paid by the Natural Sunshine Products.
Your friendly Utah Multi-Level Marketing Diet Supplement Corporation that cares so much about wellbeing of Minnesotans that it chooses to mess with it. Interestingly enough, the naturopathic doctors ARE licensed in Utah. The NSP chooses not to muddy its own house and hires mercenaries such as Karen Studders and Boyd Landry to do its dirty work elsewhere.
As usual "sample letter" below makes no sense.
The style is agonizing, the logic is nonexistent, and the tone is excruciatingly painful.
It simply defies explanation.
The software shrunk the fonts down to fit into the confines of this blog, but the original uses
the BIGGEST fonts available, follow the link below if your eyes hurt, because reading this is much too painful already.
Large parts of this "alert" repeat verbatim the letter Sue Mills circulated to the Homeopaths.
Both she and the MNHLRP refused to explain their position.

http://www.sunshinehealthfreedomfoundation.com/page/page/5629935.htm

**Minnesota Alert**

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

April 22, 2008

Thank you for your help so far. This fight is not over yet! We’re calling on you once again! We plan to stop this bill!

HF 1724, Naturopathic Registration bill, is on the agenda for the House Finance Committee for Friday April 25th. Please attend the hearing and show your opposition!

Attend the hearing
Friday, April 25^th, 8:00 AM, Room 200 in the State Office Building

Pay parking available in the lot adjacent to the State Office Building and Transportation Building.

Please contact MNHLRP with any questions at 651.322.4542 or mnhlrp@charter.net

1. WRITE a letter or email (hand written letter is the best choice)

2. call the Representatives on the list and your own Rep.

Call House Info @ 651-296-2146

Here’s a link to find your rep:

http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html

4. attend the hearing

Please call 651.322.4542, or email to mnhlrp@charter.net , any comments from members of the House Finance Committee. This information is crucial in lobbying against HF 1724 in Minnesota. So that we may alert you more quickly in the future, please send me your e-mail address.

Sample Letter

Dear Representative [insert name] __________

PLEASE OPPOSE HOUSE FILE 1724

A BILL FOR NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR REGISTRATION.

Reasons to oppose this bill:

1) There is huge controversy over this bill in the natural health community. The concerns of consumers and natural health care practitioners have not been sufficiently addressed.

2) The bill purports to grant "title protection" to about 25 people. In reality the bill threatens the whole underpinning of the natural health community that practices under Minn.Stat. 146A.

3) The Minnesota legislature recognized that complementary and alternative health care practices are natural and do NOT require licensure because they do not pose harm . In 2000, Minn.Stat. 146A – The Complementary and Alternative Health Care Practices Act -- became law. The legislature has revisited this statute in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and fundamentally reaffirmed it.

HF 1724 jeopardizes whether "naturopathy" as practiced by "traditional naturopaths" will remain in the public domain -- where these complementary and alternative modalities are currently practiced by practitioners and openly accessed by consumers.

Originally, HF 1724 included the many practices of conventional medicine, and there truly was the possibility of harm, warranting registration. In the first 2008 committee hearing in February, at the House Health Licensing Subcommittee, the medical community stripped the bill of the majority of the proposed medical practices, leaving primarily natural health modalities in the scope of practice. These modalities do not rise to the level of harm requiring registration.

4) Also according to Minnesota law, the legislature must consider whether the citizens of the state are or may be effectively protected by other means. Minn.Stat. 146A established the Office of Complementary and Alternative Practices (OCAP) in the Health Dept. OCAP receives and investigates complaints and provides disciplinary action for prohibited acts. This law is working well. It requires that each practitioner in writing state that they are not licensed, and that they fully disclose their education in writing to each client. Minn.Stat. 146A identifies prohibited acts and mandates disclosure, thus ensuring that the public is protected.

5) FINANCIALLY There is no evidence that allowing these few practitioners to register will have a positive economic impact to the state.

The fiscal note numbers do not add up.

Historically, licensure, registration increases cost of health care.

6) Historically, licensure and registration has always been brought by a small group of people to secure their economic base and rarely comes from members of the public who seek protection.

It is important to note that neither the public nor the Department of Health (with jurisdiction over 146A practitioners) is seeking to register Naturopaths. A special interest group is asking to register some "naturopathic physicians."

Both the House and the Senate authors have unequivocally stated that next year they will introduce licensure for this group of people, further threatening complementary and alternative health care practitioners practicing now safely under 146A , and consumers seeking their services.

Please stop this now!!!!!!!!!!!

Respectfully,

[your name, address, and phone number]

Remember: this will be a lengthy battle – the MNHLRP will be calling on you again to voice your opinion to the legislature. If you have any questions, feel free to call us here at 651.322.4542 or email to mnhlrp@charter.net

Essential Wellness' Registration Bill Discussion Thread

2008-04-22T13:53:00.002-05:00

The Essential Wellness sent an E-Bomb in early April 2008 calling to stage a protest against the Minn. Registration Bill.
In the aftermath, the publication posted comments from both opponents and supporters of the Bill: http://esswellness.com/2008naturopathicdocbill.aspx
I am hoping that by posting these materials here, in blog format, the discussion will further develop.

Minnesota Naturopathic Doctor Registration Bill Debate

Current MN House version of bill

Essential Wellness newspaper honors all of the viewpoints it has received about the Naturopathic Doctor registration bill. Below I’ve compiled the “letters to the editor” with their varying opinions.

Essential Wellness assumes the position of information disseminator only. Through the years, it has been our experience that there is value in every facet of an issue and we hope to do this topic justice so folks can make up their own minds when all the facts have been uncovered. Emotional issues such as this means a nerve has been hit in the natural healthcare industry.

EW considers its role as one of information/education disseminator about healing, natural healthcare, and spirituality in the Upper Midwest. EW has chosen to be the “forum” for discussion and does not stand with one side or the other, just as it does not publish the personal political preferences of its publishers, nor their choices about prolife/prochoice, or other matters.

Lynn and Dee LaFroth, publishers of Essential Wellness newspaper

Matthew Wood, a former columnist for EW, comments: As many readers and activists know, I was involved in the "Health Freedom" bill which we got through several years ago. At that time I was concerned that the passage of a naturopathic physician's licensing bill would be used by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice to go after unlicensed persons not covered by this bill. I know of one CAM provider who was warned by a friendly MD in a hospital in western Minnesota that there were plans to go after him after the naturopathic licensure bill passed. Our concerns were not baseless. Now, however, with our rights well established it is a different time and place and Minnesotans have to consider whether they would benefit from registration of naturopathic doctors, a first step towards licensure.

There are several issues involved in the Naturopathic Physician's Registration Bill. First is the preservation of the older "Health Freedom Act." This appears to be preserved in the new bill, though one has to watch bills down to the wire in the legislative process to make sure nothing is altered at the last minute. Opposition to the bill based on concern about this should be satisfied by keeping a careful watch as the bill goes through legislative review and voting. It would be ironic if the state were to outlaw, for example, herbalism when we now have an herbal program at Minneapolis Community Technical College. The existing bill allows occupations to grow and develop, which enriches Minnesotans and allows the state to be a step ahead in education and health care.

The second consideration revolves around the problem of different educational schemes in naturopathy, namely the four year, licensing track and the traditional, non-licensing track. This is really a turf battle between two different views of the profession, and as I am not a naturopath, I will remain neutral on this. I do believe Minnesotans could benefit from having licensed primary caregivers who were trained in holistic health. Four year naturopathic physicians fit this description. However, I am concerned that, as they strengthen their professional standing, they have weakened the holistic side of their education. I am concerned by the amount of allopathic medicine that is described under this statute.

Third, I am concerned for the loss of rights suffered by traditional naturopaths who have been in practice ten, twenty, and nearly thirty years. At the same time, I see no virtue in traditional naturopaths keeping the word 'doctor' when they really are not practicing on the same level as a physician. As I say, however, I will remain neutral on this topic.

Matthew Wood MSc (Herbal Medicine), Registered Herbalist (AHG)

Viewpoints SUPPORTING

Dear Lynn,

Thank you so much for providing a forum for discussing the 2008 Minnesota Naturopathic Doctor Registration Bill at the Essential Wellness web page.
As I wrote earlier, the bill is published online. I really appreciate Matthew Wood's comments
as I recognize that he made the effort to read the bill. I hope the opponents of our bill follow
his example and read it. And Mr. Wood is also correct that the bill language changes
as it moves through the legislature, and one must be vigilant to check for changes.
The bill is not written in obscure legalese language designed to confuse and obfuscate the issue.
Please, I implore everyone to open their eyes and read it.
One absolutely does not need to be a lawyer to understand it, it is clear to me to me and I am not even a native speaker of English.
If there is something in the bill that troubles you, then in good conscience you must speak up
against the words that offend you. But to object to it out of ignorance is unexcusable and disingenuous.
Please do what any responsible citizen must. Become informed!

In the interest of making this bill as easily accessible as possible I am copying its most recent House version from https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H1724.1.html&session=ls85
in its entirety:

The Bill is posted elsewhere on this Blog and is removed from this post

Regards,

Igor Vilensky

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 5:34 PM, Lynn LaFroth wrote:
Igor,
THANK YOU. Tomorrow you'll receive another eblast with THE MANY MANY "letters to the editor" I've received...viewpoints from many angles. Look for your letter below to be included. Appreciate your efforts to educate. Lynn
Lynn LaFroth
www.esswellness.com/livingwellnorthwoods.aspx
----- Original Message -----
From: Igor Vilensky
To: wellness@centurytel.net ; ivilensky@gmail.com ; Leslie Vilensky, N.D.
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 4:00 PM
Subject: Naturopathic Doctor Registration in Minnesota

Dear Publisher of Essential Wellness!

I am sending you this message to register my strongest
support for the Minnesota legislative effort to register
naturopathic physicians.
Naturopathic physicians dedicate their careers to providing
highest quality medical care to our public.
They must graduate from accredited naturopathic medical schools, recognized by the United
States Department of Education, and pass National Board Exams to earn their
Naturopathic Doctor Diplomas.
Their training includes science-based curriculum similar to that followed in
regular United States medical schools, as well as extensive classroom training and clinical
practice in modalities of holistic health care approaches. These approaches
emphasize preventative care and patient's lifestyle evaluation.
Mastering biomedical sciences allows these practitioners to excel in integrative care, being able
to provide medical care alongside the patient's regular physician.
The Registration Bill, Senate File 1520 and House File 1724, would allow the
naturopathic physicians to advance their profession in Minnesota through being able to
order simple medical tests, something beyond their current scope of practice, and to acquire malpractice
insurance.
The proposed Bill has no intention to limit the practice of any health care providers, neither M.D.s,
chiropractors, or anybody covered by the existing complementary and alternative bill 146A,
which protects all unlicensed and unregistered practitioners of naturopathy, homeopathy,
etc... .
The so-called "Health Freedom" opponents of the Registration Effort have again mounted campaigns
of disinformation.
Their attorneys have been contacting individual health care
practitioners, such as homeopaths, falsely claiming that the bill would make it illegal for
them to practice.
At the State Capital, the method has been to stall the process, by complaining that naturopathic
physicians are not open to discussion, claim support for the licensure/registration
conditional on 'clarifying' the bill language, creating amendments to change this language,
and after having these demands met, turning around and bombarding the legislators with calls
and emails opposing the bill, and repeating their falsehoods at the public hearings and meetings with
legislators.
This process is repeated with every single committee hearing, again and again.
Clearly there is never any intention to allow for naturopathic physicians'
recognition, just politically savvy efforts to create maximum havoc.
These organized efforts to derail the recognition of the naturopathic physicians'
profession by creating the atmosphere of fear and chaos have been successfully repeated year
after year.
Now the time has come to put an end to this idiocy.
The public of our great state deserves the best care available from the naturopathic physicians.
Down with the regime of fear and lies!

Respectfully,

Igor Vilensky

Disclosure: husband of Leslie Hunstad-Vilensky, N.D.

B. Lebowski:
To all you, under-trained, under-skilled, mail-order diploma holders like; Bruce Boraas, (big fraud calling yourself a doctor for a long time now huh?), Katie Murphy (ear-candling, give me a break), and Kathryn Berg (just plain ignorant if you think Diane Miller would help that which she opposes):

The bill is not about you, get it. You have your own bill 146A to protect you.

If you weren't so clueless, you would take a look at states that already license ND's and realize the benefits to the CAM health consumers. Remember them??

You're all so busy worrying about your own wallets, and the freak-show you call "healing", you've forgotten about the actual patients who support registration.

The real ND's in Minnesota have been trying for more than 10 years to get the licensing they are entitled to, only to be hampered every step of the way by out-of state attorneys being paid by out-of-state, mail order "schools" (forcing them to hire a lobbyist if they want a chance in hell!).

Follow the money and you'll find a bunch of insecure, "health-freedom" hacks, feeling very threatened for no good reason.

Get a real education or get out of the way. —Bunny Lebowski

Leslie Vilensky adds to earlier comments: Thank you for publishing my response to the message you sent out yesterday calling for the public protest against our legislation.
I am concerned that my response has been reformatted for publication and now mis-states attribution of language. The entire quote I include from the protest message is:
"""1. This bill claims (and I quote) "the therapeutic use of the physical agents of air, water, heat, cold, sound, light, and electromagnetic non-ionizing radiation and the physical modalities of electrotherapy, diathermy, ultraviolet light, hydrotherapy, massage, stretching, colon hydrotherapy, frequency specific microcurrent, electrical muscle stimulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and therapeutic exercise" to be their domain - just to name a few !! Imagine that! AIR and WATER their healing agents - SOUND and LIGHT their healing agents!! Are you not concerned? ""
This is not how my letter reads and I really feel it is important for clarity's sake that this be corrected.
Lastly, I am glad to know that you are planning on publishing an in-depth article on this issue.
If you have any questions re: the concern I have with my letter or if I can help provide furtherclarification on our legislation, please let me know.
Sincerely, Leslie Vilensky, N.D.President, Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians
www.mnanp.org
Minnesota Valley Naturopathic Clinic7
02 Columbus Avenue South, New Prague, MN 56071
(952)758-5988 www.mnnaturopath.googlepages.com

Leslie Vilensky said: Today, April 7, 2008, you sent out a mass email marshaling opposition to protest the proposed legislation to register naturopathic doctors in Minnesota. I wonder if you had the opportunity to review this bill prior to sending this message? The bill language is available for public review at the Minnesota Legislation and Bill Status webpage as Bill Number 1724 in the House and Bill Number 1520 in the Senate: http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legis.asp
The message you sent claims that naturopathic doctors aim to usurp certain modalities of care to exclude other practitioners. Here is a direct quote from that message: 1. This bill claims (and I quote) "the therapeutic use of the physical agents of air, water, heat, cold, sound, light, and electromagnetic nonionizing radiation and the physical modalities of electrotherapy, diathermy, ultraviolet light, hydrotherapy, massage, stretching, colon hydrotherapy, frequency specific microcurrent, electrical muscle stimulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and therapeutic exercise" to be their domain - just to name a few !!
Imagine that! AIR and WATER their healing agents - SOUND and LIGHT their healing agents!! Are you not concerned? Below is the actual language from House File 1724 (line numbers included): 5.10 Subd. 3. Other health care practitioners. Nothing in this chapter may be construed 5.11to prohibit or to restrict: 5.12 (1) the practice of a profession by individuals who are licensed, certified, or 5.13registered under other laws of this state and are performing services within their authorized 5.14scope of practice or unlicensed complementary and alternative health care under chapter 5.15146A; 6.8 (10) persons not registered by this chapter from the use of individual modalities 6.9which comprise the practice of naturopathic medicine, such as the use of nutritional 6.10supplements, herbs, foods, homeopathic preparations, and physical forces such as heat, 6.11cold, water, touch, and light.
Language in Senate File 1520 is virtually identical. Upon examining the proposed bill language, the claims of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project that our bill would make illegal practice of natural care by traditional naturopaths, homeopaths, herbalists, etc. are shown to be without merit. Many of our clients read your publication, and some were confused by your message. Please help to clarify the situation through balanced reporting.
Sincerely Yours, Leslie Vilensky, N.D. President, Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians www.mnanp.org Minnesota Valley Naturopathic Clinic 702 Columbus Avenue South, New Prague, MN 56071 (952)758-5988 www.mnnaturopath.googlepages.com

Jeff Friesen writes: I am a freelance writer in St. Cloud and I am so mad at what the opponents of this bill have done that I am working on a newspaper article to be submitted locally and to the Strib in the TC. I will attach a draft copy, but in essence I think that the opponents have missed the boat and are fighting the wrong fight.
In email and phone conversations I have asked several board members [as well as serial email forwarders - ahem - pet peeve alert] to clarify what exactly they are having problems with. In some emails they asked me to write in support of amendments and when I asked for the amendments so I could read them I was told that I couldn't have them because it was a mistake to advertise what they were doing.
What? They have emailed that those covered under 146A will be unable to order vitamins, or lose the ability to practice, or the latest which states that if the recipient doesn't oppose the bill that they will lose the ability to practice a therapy they use. And again they will not say which therapy.
The reality is that is you read the legislation that you will see a specific clause that states that anyone already covered under 146A will remain covered under that law with the exception of licensable, board certified, clinically trained ND's. I believe [and I am trying to find the evidence to support this belief] is that ND's who went to correspondence schools like Clayton, etc., who have no clinical training, who are not board certified, and who are not licensed are trying to make sure that they get the privileges of being a physician without having earned the rights and without having to observe the responsibilities which go with that license. I would be more than happy to discuss my ongoing research into the financial ties that the organizations who are pushing this have with out of state interests.
For me this comes down to an issue of accountability. To quote my state rep Larry Hosch who supports out bill, "Licensure brings professionalism and accountability to a profession and allows for a greater sense of public trust and confidence." From a pragmatic point of view and as someone who moved here from the west coast where ND's are licensed [and where natural medicine is flourishing], why would alternative practitioners oppose the licensing of someone who could legitimize both their profession and act as a liaison with mainstream medicine, not to mention being willing and able with a license to order tests, etc. for your patients and perhaps get large amounts of the therapies that they are practicing covered by insurance. It seems a no brainer to me. Attached is my draft copy.
Thank you for being willing to look at this issue with an unbiased eye. Yours, Jeff Friesen

Friesen DRAFT ARTICLE: Tell me, what would you do if you saw a big bully pick on someone else? Would you do something about it or would you just sit back and watch it happen? I have just witnessed this and I am choosing to stand up. I hope you will join me.
Today I saw the health and safety of Minnesotans jeopardized while simultaneously a group of dedicated physicians were besmirched by out of state interests with a financial ax to grind.
There walks among you people who have gone to medical school yet who cannot call themselves Doctors because the laws in Minnesota need to be updated. These people call themselves ND’s (Naturopathic Doctors) and they go to medical school, they are clinically trained and they are board certified and licensed in other states. They choose to work unlicensed in Minnesota because they think that Minnesotans deserve a choice. But here in Minnesota they can’t call themselves Doctors, they have to call themselves Naturopathic Practitioners.
You are asking yourself why you should care?
The problem with that is that there is another group of people who have gone to correspondence school, who have no clinical experience, who are not board certified, who can never be licensed in another state, and who think they should be able to call themselves by the same name. They want this privilege despite the fact that they haven’t earned it. They tend to refer to themselves as traditional naturopaths.
The problem is that under Minnesota law they, or anyone without qualifications, can call themselves an ND. If you want to work as a physician in Minnesota, then it’s as easy as placing an ad in the paper. I don’t know about you, but if I see a Doctor I want to know that they went to more than a correspondence school. My surgeon had damn well better have actually worked in a clinical setting and damn well have better been trained properly. They damn well better have a license and they damn well better be board certified. In short they better be who they say they are. I don’t want a correspondence surgeon cutting on me.
Here is the bullying part. I recently saw a law that was proposed in the State House (HF 1724 - stalled in committee) and in the Senate (SF 1520 - where a decision is pending) effectively killed, a law that would have allowed consumers to tell which Naturopath was which and what their qualifications were. It would have allowed medically qualified ND’s to be registered without changing the law, which traditional naturopaths operate under (known as 146A).
Opponents will tell you that they were only trying to support choice for Minnesotans and they are sending thousands of emails out asking Minnesotans to support health freedom, but what choice do you have if you can’t tell if your ND is qualified medically. They will tell you that the law would have destroyed their business, but they can’t point to a single example in any state of who that has that has happened to. In fact the law proposed by the MnANP, the professional organization that represents the medically trained ND’s, contained specific language that protected the correspondence school naturopaths.
They will still be covered under law 146A, the law that covers complementary and alternative care practitioners such as faith healers, massage therapists, and yes, un-licensable naturopaths. They will say that they will not be able to buy supplements if this law is passed. The few companies that provide physician only pharmaceutical grade supplements already require a medical license on file to purchase from them – correspondence school naturopaths already can’t order from those companies. And who can’t already purchase supplements? Have you ever looked around a grocery store?
Finally they will tell you that the MnANP (www.mnanp.org - check them out if you want to see a licensed, board certified, medically qualified ND) is nothing but a bunch of elites who want to limit your choices. They are not more elite than anyone else who has taken the time and dedication to become qualified. They went to a 4-year medical school just like your MD. They earned the privilege. Ask anyone who tells you that they are elite if they did the same. Medically Qualified ND’s are not any different than any other profession. Don’t you want to know that your accountant or lawyer or doctor or even plumber is qualified? I do.
It is almost criminal that a combination of fear and out of state money can kill a law designed to protect Minnesotans. And the only reason it isn’t is because our legislators decided not to pass a law that would create a registry for medically qualified Naturopaths so regular Minnesotans could know who they are seeing for their health. Feel safer now? I don’t.—Jeff Friesen, St. Cloud, MN

Becki Haviland says: Hi Lynn: I work as an assistant to Helen Healy, ND and manage her clinic. I'm hoping you will be publicly supportive of the bill to register the qualified ND's in Minnesota.
Personally, I can tell you that the average person seeking naturopathic care has no idea about the health freedom law in Minnesota and most assume naturopaths are licensed or held to some kind of standard. This is not true. Anyone in Minnesota can call themselves a naturopath and practice medicine.
From the standpoint of the consumer/patient, registration is necessary if there will ever be a hope of insurance coverage for this type of healthcare.
And, registration is necessary so the doctorate level trained N.D.s can practice medicine according to the full scope of their training.
The people practicing as "traditional naturopaths" that will not be eligible for registration will continue to be protected under Minnesota law. These people, who mean well I'm sure, are spreading bad information about HF1724 & SF1520 and are actually inhibiting freedom by their opposition to the bills.
Thank you for helping get the correct information to the public.
Becki Haviland
For Helen C. Healy, N.D. Wellspring Naturopathic Clinic, 905 Jefferson Ave., Suite 202, St. Paul, MN 55102 651-222-4111, www.helenhealynd.com Immediate Past President Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians, www.mnanp.org

Michael Thomson says: I was just informed of the role your magazine has taken in opposing the Naturopathic Physicians Registration Bill going through the MN legislature, by forwarding a very misinforming email today (written by Katie Murphy). I would respectfully request that you send out another email to the same recipients to counter this ongoing smear campaign that the opposition to this bill has been engaged in. There exists nothing in this bill that would lessen anyone's right to do anything as a health care provider, as a "Naturopath" or otherwise. The legislature's own lawyers keep saying this. It would simply expand the rights of Naturopathic Doctors to do what they were trained to do; practice medicine as primary care physicians. Thank you for your consideration of this,—Michael Thomson

Debra McLaughlin continues:
Greetings,
As with all issues this is one side….is this your company’s official position? If so I am very disappointed.

It would be good to hear from the Naturopathic Physicians who have been working toward licensure in this state for decades. There may be issues with how the bill is written, but overall I support licensure…this would give Minnesota residents the option of having their primary care provided by naturopaths instead of limiting their scope of practice. It would require that to call oneself a Naturopathic Physician that you would need to go through the full schooling, including clinical training.

The primary reason that we don’t have ND’s in Minnesota is the in-fighting among alternative care provider groups. The AMA doesn’t even need to expend resources here since we fight among ourselves so effectively!

Instead of protesting, how about working with the naturopaths to be sure the bill is as well written as possible?

Warmly,
Debra McLaughlin, CST, Birth Doula
Northern Lights Wellness – Craniosacral Therapy
31 W Superior Street, Suite 503
Duluth, MN 55802
218-590-1891
More from McLaughlin: Thanks for the note.
It has been very sad to me that state chiropractic association, and various practitioners such as the author of e-mail, have continued to oppose licensure of Naturopathic Physicians in the state. The present legislation would only be a registry and is still a long way from licensing in our state.
Since we don’t have licensure in this state no one can legally represent themselves as a naturopathic doctor.
It would be great to have an article in your publications that explored this more fully. I would be happy to help you find resources if you decide to move forward.
Warmly,
Debra McLaughlin, CST, Birth Doula
Northern Lights Wellness – Craniosacral Therapy
31 W Superior Street, Suite 503, Duluth, MN 55802
218-590-1891

Igor Vilensky responds: I am sending you this message to register my strongest support for the Minnesota legislative effort to register naturopathic physicians. Naturopathic physicians dedicate their careers to providing highest quality medical care to our public. They must graduate from accredited naturopathic medical schools, recognized by the United States Department of Education, and pass National Board Exams to earn their Naturopathic Doctor Diplomas. Their training includes science-based curriculum similar to that followed in regular United States medical schools, as well as extensive classroom training and clinical practice in modalities of holistic health care approaches. These approaches emphasize preventative care and patient's lifestyle evaluation. Mastering biomedical sciences allows these practitioners to excel in integrative care, being able to provide medical care alongside the patient's regular physician. The Registration Bill, Senate File 1520 and House File 1724, would allow the naturopathic physicians to advance their profession in Minnesota through being able to order simple medical tests, something beyond their current scope of practice, and to acquire malpractice insurance. The proposed Bill has no intention to limit the practice of any health care providers, neither M.D.s, chiropractors, or anybody covered by the existing complementary and alternative bill 146A, which protects all unlicensed and unregistered practitioners of naturopathy, homeopathy, etc.... The so-called "Health Freedom" opponents of the Registration Effort have again mounted campaigns of disinformation. Their attorneys have been contacting individual health care practitioners, such as homeopaths, falsely claiming that the bill would make it illegal for them to practice. At the State Capital, the method has been to stall the process, by complaining that naturopathic physicians are not open to discussion, claim support for the licensure/registration conditional on 'clarifying' the bill language, creating amendments to change this language, and after having these demands met, turning around and bombarding the legislators with calls and emails opposing the bill, and repeating their falsehoods at the public hearings and meetings with legislators. This process is repeated with every single committee hearing, again and again. Clearly there is never any intention to allow for naturopathic physicians' recognition, just politically savvy efforts to create maximum havoc. These organized efforts to derail the recognition of the naturopathic physicians' profession by creating the atmosphere of fear and chaos have been successfully repeated year after year. Now the time has come to put an end to this idiocy. The public of our great state deserves the best care available from the naturopathic physicians. Down with the regime of fear and lies! Respectfully, Igor Vilensky, Disclosure: husband of Leslie Hunstad-Vilensky, N.D. Robin Thomson continues: Thanks for forwarding those e-mails, Lynn. I'm continually surprised by the amount of fear and vehement objection put out by people who should be our colleagues, not our enemies. Sorry you got wrapped up in it. Robin Thomson, N.D. Naturopathic Family Medicine, LLC Oak Ridge Centre, Suite 203, 4801 Highway 61, White Bear Lake, MN 55110 (651)653-0170 www.natfamilymed.com

Stephani Waldron-Trapp says: It would be much appreciated if you would send out another mass email to Minnesotans on the bill HF 1724/SF 1520. I am a Naturopathic Physician here in MN and support the bill, as it is not taking away anyone's right to practice. Thank you for putting the time in to learn of the bill and re-send out an email. We appreciate your support. Sincerely, Stephani Waldron-Trapp, N.D. Natural Family Medicine, LLC (612) 250-2804

Jeff Friesen continues: Lynn, I appreciated being in your newsletter and in presenting both sides of the story. My draft article was just that, a draft and will in no way resemble my final copy as there is already another direction I want to take it in, one that is less angry. I'm afraid that I am not one of those writers who can keep his emotions out of his work. Thanks for everything, Yours, Jeff Friesen PS. Here are my comments on some of the rest of the letter represented. With the exception of myself, I thought everyone on the support side was very lucid. And most of the people on the opposition side had some less than lucid and some very strange comments to make. Bruce Borass doesn't seem to know what he is saying. Obviously, because this is a bill of registration, this is not a licensing bill. Ahem. The so called traditional naturopaths, as he calls them, as far as I can tell have no interest in being primary care providers, wherein clinically trained ND's are interested and trained to be primary care providers. Of course they would prefer to practice within the scope that their education allows. Wouldn't you? And to correct a misconception Mr. Borass has, these so called new ND's are more trained than anyone who went to a correspondence school. Sorry Bruce, facts are facts. Your education, although good, is not comparable. And some of them have been in this state for decades. Hardly new. Katie Murphy seems to missing the fact that the MnANP approached everyone in crafting this bill. In it's formative stages everyone who wanted input was given input including the MD board, the Nurses board, the acupuncture board, the DC board [and yes they are OK with the bill as written as the MnANP addressed their concerns], etc. etc. etc. Who didn't want to talk about it ... I'll give you 3 guesses. Any confusion is being created by the vaguely threatening email pushes and phone calls being spread by the MNHLFP's and their lawyer/advisor Diane Miller. As for Lobbyists playing hardball tactics, I don't know what you are talking about but the MnANP has only one. I would hope that the lobbyist is working hard to get their point of view represented. That is, after all, their job. I guess next time they will need to contact you personally Katie. As for Diane Miller, Kathryn Berg mentions that Diane has offered to "help." I wonder what kind of help that would was? Do we know? The letter says the Ms. Miller is a nationally recognized expert on drafting health freedom legislation and that she would advise them at little or no cost. But why would she be doing pro bono work for a small group of, to quote her directly, "elite individuals." How could she afford to do that? Who is paying her? Who pays for her to fly all over the country lobbying for "health freedom?" What kind of freedom does alternative medicine have when they are encouraged to turn on each other? Who benefits? Is it Diane Miller or someone other interested party? What is her agenda? Health Freedom? Hardly. By encouraging alternative health people to turn on each other she is not promoting freedom, she is promoting fear. Maybe there is nothing to these questions, but shouldn't they be answered before we, to quote her again, "take my word for it." Frankly statements like that make me check the parking lot to see if my car is still there. Kathryn Berg says that if the MnANP had listened to Diane Miller then the entire health community would have been behind them. Does that mean that Diane Miller is orchestrating the current smear campaign of confusion, fear and untruth that is targeted at the MnANP? It seems likely that she is at least providing some direction. Doesn't it make more sense to actually read the legislation and make your own mind up? Why respond to emails that make vague and unsubstantiated threats and ask you to support amendments they refused to reveal or publish before springing them on a legislative committee? Doesn't it make sense to have a class of primary care physicians who understand herbs, homeopathy, chinese medicine, etc. and have sympathy for it. Aren't you tired of trying to talk to doctors about your patients and getting no sympathy or a complete lack of understanding of what you do? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to refer a patient for tests to someone who supports what you do? Isn't it time for a better way? The fact is that registration of any alternative practitioner will benefit all of alternative health people. If you don't believe me then go out to a state like Oregon where I used to live. Natural medicine in all its forms is flourishing there so much so that you can't swing a cat in a circle without bumping into a healer, doctor, shaman, L.Ac. herbalist, etc. In Minnesota you can walk a long mile to find any of that. I urge you all to ignore the fear mongering.—Jeff Friesen, St. Cloud, MN

Robin Thomson said: I just wanted to offer some food for thought regarding the naturopathic doctor legislation. The bill under consideration DOES NOT limit any practitioner from doing their job. The therapies listed in the bill can still be used by anyone practicing under the CAM law- a similar example is the registered nurse license which states that they can draw blood, while an MD's license also states that they can draw blood. One person's ability to do a task DOES NOT negate another's ability to do that same task. All natural health practitioners would still be able to practice under the CAM law.

I think it's a shame that there's so much misunderstanding between these two groups. We should be working together to promote natural healing for our clients, not fighting amongst ourselves.

Thank you!
Robin Thomson, ND

B. Lebowski said: Regarding those who oppose:

Oy gevalt, have they all gone fafakta?

At best, they are incoherent.
At worst, well, they need to be hooked up to their own "electro-dermal screening" contraptions to figure out what exactly would cause the brain function imbalances they exhibit. Parasites? Yeast? Toxic build-up requiring a long series of colonics?

Clearly they have not READ THE FREAKING BILLS!

B. Lebowski
Supporter of science-based natural medicine, and licensed practitioners.

Viewpoints OPPOSING

Bruce Boraas says: This is not a licensure bill. It is not written to support the continued practice of traditional naturopaths, who are as trained and experienced as these new graduates. If you think this bill will is a bill so that naturopaths can be a primary care provider, you've not read the bill. This bill just muddies the water as put forth.—A. Bruce Boraas ND.

Kathryn Z Berg said: Let’s get some clarity in the language of this bill. It started out as a licensure bill and it ended up as a registration bill because the legislators, on their own, pulled that language out in the very first committee hearing it had. The reason that there aren’t more ND’s has nothing to do with infighting, and more to do with the fact that the Minnesota Legislature won’t license them to do some of the same things that MD’s are licensed to do in the state—they are licensed to do some of those things in other states, thus they are more attractive. There also is NOT a school here, so it is less likely that people will settle in MN to practice. The current ND’s have benefited greatly from Statute 146A in Minnesota, the law which allows unlicensed therapists to practice in Minnesota—this makes it a very attractive place to practice for most non-licensed therapists. This bill was drafted and made law with the assistance of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project (MNHLFP). So they have been working together.
The Naturopaths keep mentioning that there is nothing that prevents anyone else practicing their own craft, yet they resist at every turn the MNHLFP’s attempts to assure that from happening. Early on, the managed to prevent testimony at some committee hearings. Only because Rep. Karen Clark, a backer of the bill, insisted that it receive a full hearing did that happen. Unfortunately for them, the hearing was so late into the legislative session, there wasn’t time to clear up some of the questions that were brought up in the committee. I was there, I heard the entire hearing on the bill. After the hearing, there were legislators who were pretty clear about getting things cleared up and making sure that it has a proper hearing so some of the problems can be corrected. Just prior to the hearing in Rep. Clark’s committee they even put some of their own language in the bill to try to reassure the rest of the natural care community. So they must agree that there are some potential problems with what is in there.
Unfortunately, they refused help when Diane Miller, JD, nationally recognized as the premiere expert on drafting Health Freedom legislation, suggested that they needed to tighten up the language. Why would they not want help from the best person in the country who was willing to help them for little to no cost to them? If they had been willing to listen, the entire natural health community would have been behind them supporting them. It is important that all consumers have access to the practitioners they wish to see and all practitioners be able to continue practicing under Stat 146A. A few extra words in a bill would not harm the naturopathic registration bill, but would help every one else—consumers and practitioners.

Kathryn Z Berg, MA, PCH
Classical Homeopath
PO Box 25003
Woodbury, MN 55125
651-748-1556
www.lotushomeopathy.com

Katie Murphy responds: I am not against Naturopathic Doctors registering their trade. I know that it will lead to license legislature. I am not desiring or attempting to stop the future. I am not happy about the wording of this bill. I am wondering why this is being pushed so hard through this session when there are so few people (other than the Naturopaths who desire this bill - and not all do) who know about this bill. I am told this is bill has been tried before. But if there is such confusion about it and concern about it then why can't those who want it so bad come forward in an open forum and discuss it with those who are concerned? Why are the Naturopaths who want this bill hiring professional lobbyists (I saw one today who rudely interrupted a conversation I was having with a Representative) to push this bill instead of trying to work more directly with their professional counterparts in the community? The fact is many are very concerned about the wording in their bill and don't like the hard push by their attempts. If so many are concerned then it is time to meet and discuss. THAT IS WHAT I AM PROTESTING. I am asking the House and Senate to STOP this mad rush and give us time to seriously review our concerns. If we have nothing to be concerned about then I will be the first to give hugs all around for a great job done.

In a 2nd email Katie continues: Again, I say - if there is nothing wrong with this bill and we are all safe then 1) why didn't the Naturopaths come forward in the beginning the explain what they wanted and how they wanted to protect everyone else's rights and function as part of our community for our support. and 2) why are their lobbyists playing "hardball" tactics for them. and 3) since many of us are just now hearing about this bill and are obviously concerned, then why not let it rest just a few more months and give us time to iron out our confusions and concerns. and 4) why does their "Scope of Practice" cover everything on earth and every therapy in the industry? Surely, their 4 years of education does not teach ALL they have listed. and 5) if they are listing such a universal wide "scope of practice" to provide ample opportunity y for themselves and their future, then WHY are they so opposed to any of us wanting to assure the same for ourselves, and 6) why in the world should we take their "word for it" that our rights are protected. After all, they are Naturopaths and not lawyers. Give us time to consult our own lawyers. I have many $$ at stake in this business. Again, I am not saying "no" to their desire to be "registered". I am staying STOP, SLOW DOWN, LISTEN TO US and let’s discuss this so we can work together instead of creating a lot more disharmony.
Katie Murphy, Healing Insights, Woodbury, MN

Andrew Weil speaks in favor of Naturopathic Medical Licensing

2008-04-20T22:31:00.005-05:00

Boyd "The Magnificent" Landry likes to put down Naturopathic Medical Education.
Still, Boyd has a soft spot for the mandibularly hirsute
guru of natural medicine, Dr.Andrew Weil, and likes to quote
Dr. Weil to spiff up his web site
http://naturalhealth.org/agenda/century.html:

"I think there has to be complete rethinking of the nature of medicine, and people's expectations of it. Not simply worrying about who pays for it..."

"You know, of the total number of sick people going to doctors, maybe 20 percent of them have conditions for which conventional allopathic medicine is appropriate. If we restricted that kind of medicine to that percent, we would not be in the kind of economic trouble we're in now. But we're trying to use this for every thing, and it doesn't work for the vast majority of problems."
Dr. Andrew Weil in An Interview on Natural Medicine"

We like Dr. Weil too!
Here is more from the Master:

How Do You Find a Good Physician? (look for an ND from a reputable school)

2008-04-20T21:39:00.009-05:00

Energetic Dr. Mercola, D.O., is known for being a prolific writer and for his marketing prowess.
And he recommends seeking out a graduate of one of the accredited Naturopathic
Medical schools if you are taking medication and looking for a good physician.

http://v.mercola.com/QA/How-Do-You-Find-a-Good-Physician--2109.aspx

"there are very few MDs and DOs that understand natural medicine. If you find a good one consider yourself blessed. Alternatively naturopaths and chiropractors have excellent training programs and for all but the serious of illnesses they are typically a far better choice. If you are still taking medications it would be best to find someone with a license and training that will allow you to carefully wean off of them and replace natural lifestyle options to address the underlying cause.

Many naturopaths or NDs have this training but only if they went to a four year ND medical school. There are only five, Bastyr, Southwest, National, the Canadian College. and Connecticut. So if you are seeing an ND and are on drugs it would be best to find a graduate of these schools as they have the most comprehensive training. Actually the minority of NDs are from these schools so be careful if you are taking medications."

"You Will Respect My Authoritah!": practitioners with ridiculous credentials cause real pain and suffering.

2008-04-20T20:54:00.005-05:00

The South Park Academy of Traditional Naturopathic Arts and Sciences has granted one million Naturopathic Doctor Diplomas and has now surpassed the Clayton College of Natural Health as the leading unaccredited diploma mill.
"Saving lives, saving trees."
In the interests of protecting the environment, the Academy's entire N.D. degree curriculum is printed on the reverse side of the diploma. No more textbooks!
Kudos, Dean Eric Cartman!
I try to be funny but the consequences of seeing a "doctor" with fake credentials can be lethal.
Here is a serious Seattle Times article with more news from the world of BS health care education fraud:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004024299_miracle20m0.html

Teen's death hastened by practitioner who had bogus diplomas

By Christine Willmsen and Michael J. Berens

Seattle Times staff reporters

PREV 1 of 4 NEXT

THE FLANAGAN FAMILY

Cancer patient Sean Flanagan is joined by his family the same day he was treated by Brian O'Connell. He died the next day, six months sooner than medical doctors had predicted.

How to protect yourself

Consumers can research medical devices and practitioners, including their training and any disciplinary record.

Practitioners: To validate a license or check for any disciplinary actions or complaints, call the Washington Department of Health at 360-236-4700 or go to www.doh.wa.gov and click on "Provider Credential Search."

Medical devices, companies:

• Search FDA databases of medical-device manufacturers and their registrations: www.fda.gov/cdrh/databases.html

• Search an FDA database for warning letters: www.fda.gov/foi/warning.htm

• Check for adverse events linked to medical devices: www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/search.CFM

Accredited institutions:

• Find out whether an institution is accredited through the U.S. Department of Education (DOE): www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/; Find out whether an institution or non-degree program is accredited through the Council for Higher Education Accreditation: www.chea.org/search/default.asp

Licensed naturopathic doctors: The District of Columbia and these 14 states consider naturopathy a licensed profession requiring a degree from a four-year college accredited by the DOE: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Their teenager was facing an excruciating death from cancer. His parents searched frantically for a way to ease his pain.

David and Laura Flanagan of suburban Denver believed they found that, and more, in the office of Dr. Brian O'Connell. O'Connell assured the Flanagans he could not only relieve 18-year-old Sean's suffering from late-stage bone cancer, he could cure Sean as he had others.

O'Connell's treatment of choice: photo luminescence, a form of "energy medicine" using light waves. O'Connell would take a vial of blood from Sean's body, expose it to ultraviolet light from a device, then inject the treated blood back in a hydrogen-peroxide solution. Although the treatment was unconventional, the Flanagans took comfort in O'Connell's charisma and in his impressive credentials as a naturopathic doctor.

"The certification and accreditations were plastered all over his wall," David Flanagan said. "There wasn't a bare spot. Everything seemed legit."

Everything was not.

Two days after Sean's treatment by O'Connell began, the young man was rushed to the hospital with an infection caused by the injection. Six days after that, as O'Connell administered another round of treatment, Sean begged, "Please, God, no more." The next day, Dec. 19, 2003, Sean died — about six months sooner than his medical doctors had predicted.

His parents felt particularly devastated that Sean would miss having his dream fulfilled by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which was planning a trip for him.

"My son wanted to go to Hawaii and lay in a hammock under a palm tree," David Flanagan said.

But even in their sorrow, the Flanagans never suspected O'Connell was anything less than he claimed to be. It wasn't until months later — when they saw him on television, being led away in handcuffs — that they discovered they had been cruelly duped.

O'Connell, 35 at the time, had been arrested for practicing medicine without a license. After the Flanagans told law-enforcement officials Sean's story, criminally negligent homicide was added to the charges. O'Connell was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

But what of that wall of degrees and certificates in his office? It was a facade of legitimacy. O'Connell had no formal medical or government-accredited naturopathic training.

Rather, The Seattle Times has found, he and scores of other "energy medicine" practitioners are graduates of a multimillion-dollar industry that gives them deceptive credentials.

These people buy the appearance of legitimacy through an international network of unaccredited health-care schools and murky trade associations.

Many operators of "miracle machines" have used sham credentials to lure unsuspecting patients into expensive, dubious and sometimes-fatal treatments.

The Times found:

• At least 104 unaccredited schools dole out alternative-medicine degrees or certifications that are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Most operate only through the Internet or by mail order. The largest alternative health-care school in the United States, Clayton College of Natural Health, is an unaccredited home-study program that claims it has issued more than 25,000 degrees.

• Some of the largest and seemingly independent health-care credentialing organizations are in fact controlled by one of two businessmen — one in Las Vegas, the other in Texas. Their organizations are mail-order factories that issue professional titles and hand out accreditations to more than 100 schools.

• Many buyers of energy devices receive credentials and certificates from manufacturers who operate or sponsor training programs. Device operators use these titles to market themselves as health-care practitioners.

Meanwhile, the alternative-medicine schools that are accredited by the federal government are dismayed by the explosion of untrained and uncertified operators.

"They are using smoke and mirrors to confuse people by not disclosing the truth behind their accrediting agencies and their institutions," said Dr. Jane Guiltinan, a naturopathic clinical professor at Seattle's Bastyr University, one of the five schools of naturopathy that are accredited by a federally recognized institution.

Guiltinan is president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), an organization that requires that its members graduate from a four-year accredited college.

"To argue that you don't have to have any training for diagnosing or treating patients is absurd," she said.

Las Vegas credential mill

Naturopathy is a burgeoning health-care discipline. Its practitioners prefer natural remedies, such as supplements, to pharmaceutical drugs, and they avoid invasive measures.

"Naturopathic doctor" is one of the most coveted credentials in alternative medicine. Fourteen states, including Washington, consider naturopathy a licensed profession and require degrees and clinical training through four-year colleges accredited by the U.S. Department of Education.

But in the other 36 states — including Colorado, where Brian O'Connell practiced — naturopathy is not considered a government-regulated profession. In those states, anyone can call himself or herself a naturopathic doctor with no training.

One of the framed certificates on O'Connell's wall was from the American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA). Impressive-sounding, to be sure — but it comes from a Las Vegas post-office box. The businessman who founded the organization in 1981 has feuded for years with AANP and the mainstream, state-licensed naturopathic community.

Donald Hayhurst, 71, is the godfather of mail-order health-care credentials. He has issued thousands of credentials to practitioners, and he accredits some schools.

Hayhurst has doled out 4,000 ANMA memberships, at a cost of $350 apiece. Each year, its members attend a convention in Las Vegas that includes speakers, training and products. More than 1,000 people attended this year's convention at the Riviera Hotel & Casino, where vendors aggressively pitched dozens of energy devices, lasers and herbal concoctions.

ANMA board member Eliezer Ben-Joseph said the organization fends off constant challenges by conventional doctors and state-licensed naturopaths.

"Some people say we're fake," he said. "I can't convince them, and if they don't want to participate, good-bye."

Hayhurst would not return phone calls from The Times.

He claimed to have graduated from the Utah College of Naturopathic Physicians. However, there was no evidence the school ever existed, the Nevada Board of Naturopathic Healing reported after investigating him. It prohibited Hayhurst from practicing naturopathic healing, Nevada documents show. The Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians provided those documents to The Times.

Four years earlier, he had formed the American Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board. Under this flag, Hayhurst accredited schools and later issued credentials such as "board certified naturopathic physician."

In 2003, Hayhurst split off that part of his organization. A man operating in Missoula, Mont., now doles out naturopathic credentials to people who pay nearly $700 and pass an exam.

One of the correspondence schools that received Hayhurst's accreditation was the Herbal Healer Academy of Arkansas, where Brian O'Connell, the Colorado man convicted of negligent homicide in the case of Sean Flanagan, obtained his naturopathy degree.

The school came under fire, and no longer issues the degrees.

Texas network

Hayhurst's chief competitor is Donald A. Rosenthal, 56, who orchestrates a network of accreditation and credentialing organizations around the world. That network claims to include more than 4,000 members and nearly 100 health-care schools.

Rosenthal said he has degrees as both a medical and a naturopathic doctor. But he is not a licensed doctor in any state. His degrees were issued by schools that are not accredited by the Department of Education.

Rosenthal maintains a low profile from a small office in Galveston, Texas, the base of his parent organization, the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. After a bankruptcy in the 1990s, he lives in a $78,000 home near town.

Many energy-medicine operators nationally have certification from Rosenthal and describe themselves as "drugless practitioners." Rosenthal said the idea for this designation was developed in 1990 when he talked with chiropractors who sought a way to bolster their professional credentials.

Becoming a member of the association is as easy as faxing in a brief application with a photocopy of a driver's license and $260. In return, applicants are issued certificates that declare them a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner.

One man who took advantage of this ease of certification from Rosenthal was Ralph Mitchell, who parlayed his "drugless practitioner" title to draw patients into his Greenhouse Health & Wellness Center in Molalla, Ore. Mitchell, who called himself a naturopathic doctor, used unproven energy devices to treat seriously ill patients.

Among those devices were an ion footbath called Body Cleanse, which purports to extract toxins from the body, and a skin-response biofeedback device made by BioMeridian that Mitchell used to diagnose medical conditions, state records show.

The Oregon Attorney General's Office investigated Mitchell and found that the medical conditions of clients worsened under his care. In September, Mitchell agreed to pay $25,000 to the state and is now prohibited from practicing medicine.

Easy credentials

For schools wanting accreditation from Rosenthal, the process is just as simple. They are required only to mail a copy of their curriculum, and a fee. Rosenthal does not visit the school or interview owners, instructors or students, he said.

Some of the schools accredited by Rosenthal include the Academy of BioEnergetics in Utah, the Energetix College of BioEnergetic Medicine in Georgia and the Florida Vedic College.

None of the institutions is accredited by the federal government.

For instance, the Holistic Healers Academy was opened in 2002 and operates from a post-office box in Convent Station, N.J. Home courses cost $160 each with subjects such as "advanced energy healing."

Co-founder Kristen Lauter doesn't rely on Rosenthal just for accrediting her academy. She is Certified Holistic Health Practitioner #76892201 — a credential issued by Rosenthal.

And her bachelor of science degree came from Clayton College of Natural Health of Birmingham, Ala., the nation's largest unaccredited alternative health-care school. Clayton boasts accreditation from both Rosenthal and Hayhurst.

Founded in 1980 by Lloyd Clayton Jr., the college offers home-study courses that range from $4,300 to $6,400, for degrees from natural science to holistic health.

Clayton officials said the college fulfills a mission to provide quality training to students who do not desire a traditional four-year education.

Practitioner shut down

"Miracle machine" manufacturers have joined the credentialing game, too.

At least a dozen energy-device companies have created training programs that dole out health-care titles and credentials that are then used to bolster credibility with patients.

One such beneficiary was Joyce Tasker of Colville, in Eastern Washington. In June 2003, an Oklahoma physician reported to the Washington State Department of Health that Tasker was engaged in the illegal practice of medicine, based on material he found on her Web site.

When questioned by state investigators, Tasker produced a certificate, embossed with a gold seal, from the American Institute of Energy Medicine, which certified that she was a Technician of BioEnergetic Medicine.

The institute's address is the same as Star Tech Health Services of Orem, Utah, an energy-device distributor.

Later, investigators learned that a Star Tech employee traveled to Tasker's home, showed her how to use the unproven device and awarded her the certificate.

A state investigation found that Tasker charged $125 to test patients with a computerized skin-probe system, the Orion, which she purchased for $12,500 from the Utah company.

"She said people send a sample of their blood or saliva and she tests them at her home. She said she has a computer program installed in her home computer that tests the frequencies of the blood or saliva," according to a state investigative report.

Tasker then took vials containing water and alcohol, used the device to transmit radio frequencies to the mixture, then sold them as potions that could help the body balance itself, state investigators said.

Tasker denied that her actions constituted the practice of medicine, but the Washington State Court of Appeals determined her actions were improper and ordered her to stop.

Tasker did not respond to The Times' request for comment.

Other device companies opt for a different strategy.

The International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine, in Honolulu, is linked to federal fugitive William Nelson, the Budapest-based manufacturer of the EPFX machine.

Nelson registered the machine with the FDA as a biofeedback device, but he and many practitioners claim it can diagnose and cure disease.

The EPFX correspondence school in Honolulu is accredited by one of Hayhurst's organizations. The school's long-distance learning courses cost up to $6,000 and offer credentials such as "Quantum Naturopathic Certification" and "Biofeedback Certification."

Barbara Murphy, a retired Boeing employee, operates an EPFX clinic in Tukwila. She advertises herself as a Certified Biofeedback Specialist. Her credential was issued by a group of EPFX owners, the Natural Therapies Certification Board in Black Mountain, N.C.

As thin as their credentials may be, these energy-medicine practitioners cling vigorously to them.

Even Brian O'Connell, now serving time in the Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenberg, Colo., for his role in the death of Sean Flanagan, continues to call himself a naturopathic doctor.

The teen's father, meanwhile, pleads with government officials to do something to protect other desperate families from being victimized by fake medical professionals. He wants all states to pass laws to license the practice of naturopathy.

"You don't have to have a life-threatening situation to be desperate," said Flanagan. "Someone who has tried all the medical treatments, drugs or can't function — those people are just as desperate as we were. A process needs to be in place to protect people from this."

Christine Willmsen: 206-464-3261 or cwillmsen@seattletimes.com; Michael J. Berens: 206-464-2288 or mberens@seattletimes.com. Staff reporter Sonia Krishnan, researchers David Turim and Gene Balk, and intern Eric Ball contributed to this report.

The Formula for Success, the MLM way. How "NOT" to become a naturopathic doctor.

2008-04-16T18:15:00.004-05:00

Please recognize the value of formal medical educaiton and support the qualified naturopathic
medical doctors in their quest to become registered and better serve Minnesotans.
Please support SF 1520!
My commentary below is in jest, unfortunately, the rest is real.
Why go to professional school for 4 years when you could be playing golf and building your dream Multi Level Marketing pyramid?
If you were wondering what steps to take, http://www.theherbdoc.com/resources/memberservices/Training/index.html
lists them for you, from starting out as an Nature Sunshine Products distributor, to ordering your mail-order Doctor Diploma.
Just make sure those graduates of full-time naturopathic medical schools do not get licensed,
so you can act as if your make-believe diploma were just as good.

Natural Health Education
and Training Opportunities

If you would like to build your own part-time or full-time practice as a natural health practitioner, we recommend that you seriously consider the following steps toward your professional development and certification. If you become part of our family of distributors, it will be our pleasant responsibility to “mentor” you in your natural health career.

Note: You may wish to reverse the order of your Master Herbalist and Naturopathic Doctor programs, but if you are serious about the natural health profession you will eventually want to take both programs.

Become a Nature’s Sunshine Products Independent Distributor and begin attending local training sessions provided by Nature’s Sunshine and your upline.

Begin using the Nature's Sunshine products. Don't use just the food supplements. Remember that there is also a complete line of personal care products as well: shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, lotions, salves, lip balm, sunscreen, etc. If you are currently buying these products at the drug store or variety store, you are supporting your "competitor" — anything that you can buy from yourself, you should. You shouldn't recommend products that you don't believe in, and you can't believe in a product line that you haven't tried.

Using your own products not only helps you gain confidence in the excellent quality of the entire NSP product line, it also increases your PV/QV and gets you closer to your first bonus check. Remember that as a Manager, you get 35-40% off the retail price of your products, plus you get a bonus check for an additional 27% of the cost of every product you buy from yourself. To become an NSP manager, you only have to use $100 worth of products each month, and have only 10 customers who also use $100 worth of products each month, whether they are retail customers or Member/Distributors. Click here for the bonus schedule.

Attend Nature’s Sunshine’s School of Natural Health to become an NSP Herb Specialist^SM, and attend Nature’s Sunshine’s regular Regional Meetings.

Enroll in the National Association of Certified Natural Health Professionals Certification Program and become a Certified Natural Health Professional (CNHP). This program covers the basics of Body Systems, Nutrition, Iridology, and Body Works. Once you have started your CNHP program, you become eligible for significant tuition discounts from Trinity School of Natural Health.

You may also want to consider becoming a Certified Iridologist through our Iridology Correspondence Course.

Enroll in a program to become certified as a Master Herbalist.

Enroll in a program to earn a degree as a Naturopathic Doctor from Trinity School of Natural Health or from Clayton College of Natural Health.

Pursue your life-long continuing education.

Local Seminars and Training Opportunities from TheHerbDoc and our Associates.

Training Opportunities from Nature's Sunshine Products.

Trinity School of Natural Health offers Doctor of Naturopathy, Master Herbalist, and Certified Nutritional Consultant programs.

Clayton College of Natural Health offers Undergraduate Degree programs in Natural Health and Holistic Nutrition, Specialization Programs in Herbal Studies and Homeopathy, and Graduate Degree Programs in Naturopathy, Natural Health, and Holistic Nutrition.

Tree of Light Institute is operated by Steven Horne, a senior-level Nature's Sunshine Manager, well-known master herbalist, and current president of the American Herbalist Guild. His Institute offers a number of specialized correspondence courses and books on a wide variety of natural health subjects. Steven developed the curriculum that is currently used by NSP's School of Natural Health.

"Title Protection, ND or not ND" is no longer the question. YES to NDs and SF 1520!

2008-04-16T14:55:00.009-05:00

Ken Winston Cain writes in http://www.mindbodyspiritjournal.com/holistic-health/
naturopathy/stop-the-naturopathy-wars-cnmes-medically-trained
-naturopaths-need-a-distinct-title that the war declared by "health freedom"
on ND licensure will end once
the naturopathic physicians give up ND title to the unlicensables and secure for themselves
something less contentious, like Integrative Medical Doctor, or IMD.
Mr. Cain might know what it would take to bring hostilities to end, after all he founded
Boyd Landry's organisation, CNH.
Maybe he is right about the title, ND does not sound all that great, it might stand for 'nada' or 'not doctor', while IMD has more of an imperious ring, 'I, MD', akin to 'I, Claudius'.
However, it might be a mistake to take on a 3 letter abbreviation, too close to IMF and WMD,
as in International Monetary Fund and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Here is the best title I have seen.

http://www.mes-med.com/prof_anton_j

Leave out "Late" for the living:

Late Lord Pandit Raja-Guru Maha-Atma WHO Qualified Chinese Master-Acupuncturist Prof. Dr. Sir Holy Tibetian Lama Shaman Healer

Will everyone agree to let naturopathic physicians use this title?
Will this agreement bring to end the 'naturopathy wars'?

"health freedom" kills 2008 Colorado licensing bill

2008-04-15T22:20:00.003-05:00

Found this entry on livejournal. Check out the brownshirt tactics. Hate Freedom marches on.
BTW, Kimberly Sharples is an old Sunshine Health Freedom/NSP troll.

http://community.livejournal.com/ronpaul2008/360345.html?view=2167705#t2167705

Ron Paul Supporters Stopped Naturopathy Bill in Colorado
Here's my question, to the Ron Paul supporters and other Libertarians out there:
Why was this bill (Colorado HB 1064) blocked? Specifics would be useful.
Can you envision a licensure bill for Naturopathic Physicians in your state that would not trigger the anti-socialism patrol?
Thanks.
(x-posting to Libertarians, Ron Paul group, etc)

Some comments from
Kimberly Sharples, HHP
Health Freedom Activist
kimberlysharples@msn.com
719-390-1979
http://www.vitesis.com/?tag=house-bill-1064:

HB 1064, is the Regulation of Naturopathic Doctors bill. This bill was introduced by Rep. Jeanne Labuda. We are opposing this bill for several reasons.

HB 1064 defines the practice of naturopathy and naturopathic medicine as the same thing, basically all of natural healing.

HB 1064 makes it unlawful for traditional naturopaths or natural health practitioners, from practicing anything within that definition. Those in violation can be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor or a Class 6 felony.

HB 1064 also makes it unlawful to use titles or words, including naturopath or naturopathy, or ND, unless licensed as a Naturopathic Doctor as specified in the bill.

HB 1064 states that one must have only graduated from certain naturopathic medical schools, which eliminates thousands of other health care practitioners from practicing creating an exclusionary and monopolistic bill.

HB 1064 is poorly written with no honor of the traditional naturopaths and all natural health healers and practitioners.

We are urging everyone to please call, fax and email the members of this committee and urge them to vote NO on HB 1064.

AND FROM ANOTHER ANGLE:

The following is from Rena Bloom, ND, and written from the position of supporting Naturopathic Medicine as a professional practice for those educated at a four year college. Rena supports licensure for trained practitioners in the state of Colorado:

They say when you are in a battle, no one wins. Today HB 1064, the bill to regulate naturopathic doctors was "postponed indefinitely" in the House Health and Human Services committee. In English that means, the bill was killed, before an official vote was taken.

The motion to P.I. the bill was offered by Rep Marostica, and seconded by Rep Swalm.

The people who voted to kill the bill were:
Rep Marostica
Rep Swalm
Rep Frangas
Rep Gagliardi
Rep Kerr
Rep Green
Rep Hicks

The hearing room had a State Patrolman posted, as apparently last week Rep Stafford received some harassing phone calls from people opposing HB 1064, and felt quite uncomfortable, to the point of calling in the State
Patrol.

This morning an email went out from the HealthKeepers, and on Presidential Candidate Ron Paul's web list, soliciting help in opposing HB 1064. People were asked to attend the hearing, wear red, and bring
signs. Which they did. The parking lot was full of Ron Paul bumper stickers, including a big 4X4 pick up truck, with Harley Stickers, and painted on the back: www.naturalmedicinedr.com >. Does that truck belong to any of
you?

As we left the hearing, a group of young men in red, with motorcycle helmets approached us on the sidewalk, and when Greg said excuse us, we didn't need visitors for this discussion, they proceeded to remind us
that the sidewalk was public property, and any one could stand there. We crossed the street, and they followed, again telling us that this was public property, and since we were just a bunch of communists, we should
just move to China. The state patrol was called, at which time the young men left.

I share this ugliness with you, so you get an understanding of how the opposition does politics.

I also share my disappointment. The Health Freedom movement is reveling in their glory of our loss. That's the part about battle, someone has to lose.

I have many thoughts regarding the pursuit of future legislation, which we can share at the CANP meeting coming up later this month.

At this point I admit, I would be happy not setting foot again in that capitol for a while. I also look forward to having the time to participate in more life giving activities, which is nice.

Good news is, you all might as well continue to call yourselves Physicians, and practice as you were trained. The legislators obviously did not think that was a big enough problem for them to deal with.

Rena Bloom ND
Legislative Chair
Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians

Is nothing sacred? From Health Freedom to Hate Freedom

2008-04-15T19:31:00.002-05:00

It has been an extremely windy day in the Twin Cities.
But no force of nature will compare with MNHLRP's own windbag lobbyist, Karen Studders, J.D..
The information below was made public by Representative Cy Thao during today's committee hearing regarding HF 1724.
To put pressure on Cy Thao, a member of the House who has been working with all
sides on the House File 1724, Karen Studders phoned Hmong Talk Radio last night, April 14.
She made an egregious claim that if Naturopathic Registration Bill passes, Hmong community
members will not be able to perform their religious rituals and gave listeners Cy Thao's
cell phone number to call and protest.
And they did, in great numbers. The phone calls kept coming overnight, till 3P.M. this afternoon, and Mr. Thao had to explain the reality of the situation to many Hmong who came today in person to the Minnesota House to protest what they saw as an encroachment on their religious freedom.

There is not a grain of truth in Karen Studders' accusations. None.
As a registered lobbyist, she must have read the bill and know that.

It is a record low for the Health Freedom movement.
If you are one of its members, go look in the mirror and say 'Shame on you!".
Hard to believe that someone is getting away spreading such malicious lies.

How the NSP tools operate: plan to intimidate a U.S. Senator

2008-04-15T10:10:00.007-05:00

Examine this call from 2007 to mobilize pressure on a U.S. Senator.
http://herballure.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Board=LegislativeAlerts&Number=237048
Don't whether this call succeeded in changing Senator Enzi's mind, but you have to appreciate the sheer insanity of the language.

IMMEDIATE PRESSURE MUST BE PUT ON SENATOR ENZI TO GET AMENDMENT INTO S.1082- UPDATE & WHAT TO DO NOW:
05/01/07 04:58 PM (69.205.153.76)

Please read Byron Richard's update on S.1082, the Prescription Drug User Fee Act of 2007 http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron24.htm (scroll to bottom of article for Monday's update). We're monitoring the Senate floor right now on CSpan2 http://www.c-span.org/watch/index.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2 waiting to hear Senator Durbin's statement about an anticipated amendment regarding Food Safety that we're very concerned about given Durbin's long standing opposition to dietary supplements (he is a senator from Illinois where AMA HQ is and pharmaceutical interests exert enormous pressure on him.)

With the recent contaminated pet food issue thats all over the news right now, and the latest news that melamine contaminated pet food has found its way into human food via chicken feed on 38 poultry farms in Indiana and into hog feed http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/05/01/hscout604205.html we've got a challenging political situation but we CAN'T give up because language currently in S.1082 guts DSHEA according to respected attorney Jonathan Emord who has suggested an amendment to protect us!

Senator Mike Enzi from Wyoming is up for reelection next year. That makes him politically vulnerable and we MUST CAPITALIZE on this! Fortunately, he is from Wyoming, a small state population wise- which for our purposes right now is PERFECT because its EASIEST to get the JUNGLE TELEGRAPH cranked in a small state and we can RAPIDLY sound the alarm to health food stores, alternative practitioners, MLMers, and consumers. Clint Miller is going to sound the alarm to Nature's Sunshine distributors there, and Byron Richards and I are working to urge as many vitamin companies as possible to alert their customers in Wyoming. We need all of your help RIGHT NOW to get word out to ANYONE who can help in the state of Wyoming and we ALL need to call and fax Enzi's DC Office at the very least!

ENZI's CONTACT INFO

DC: 202-224-3424
Fax 202-228-0359

Gillette: 307-682-6268
Cody: 307-527-9444
Jackson:307-739-9507
Cheyenne:307-772-2477
Casper:307-261-6572

PHONE SCRIPT:

I am calling to request Senator Enzi amend S.1082, the Prescription Drug User Fee Act of 2007 to delete all reference to the terms "Foods" and "Food Ingredients".

As one of 150 million Americans that rely on dietary supplements to keep myself and my family well, I am especially concerned that this legislation broadens FDA regulatory power to harass functional foods and dietary supplements- which has nothing whatsoever to do with drug safety- (the alleged PURPOSE for this bill.)

The so called HELP Committee has failed to prepare a Committee Report for Staff and Senators to study, so they don't know what lurks within this 262 page bill.

I am OUTRAGED that the bill creates the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, a pharmaceutical drug development company located literally INSIDE the FDA. This is a total conflict of interest and will WORSEN, not IMPROVE the safety of pharmaceutical drugs- totally contradicting the alleged "PURPOSE" of this legislation.

Although I would like this bill to be KILLED, at a BARE MINIMUM, I INSIST that the following amendment, which was strongly recommended by respected attorney Jonathan Emord of Emord and Associates be included in the bill: This change is necessary so that no confusion is created between drug regulation and food regulation.

Amendment to Bill S1082

Purpose of the amendment: (See pp. 106-107)
The bill, S1082: The Prescription Drug User Fee Act, is hereby amended to eliminate any reference to the terms food or food ingredients, such that food and food ingredients will not be subject to any jurisdiction or control by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration.

Intent of amendment:
To eliminate from the bill any possibility that food or food ingredients would be treated like drugs either for safety review purposes or for assessment of their efficacy. It is a fundamental tenet of food and drug law that foods and food ingredients are presumed to be safe and have to be established to be adulterated only if they present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.

I have read Byron Richard's article on this issue on NewsWithViews.com and am calling it to the attention of every health food store, every alternative medical practitioner, chiropractor, naturopath, massage therapist and vitamin consumer I know both in and outside the state of Wyoming.

Following is a form letter to fax in:

Please Amend S.1082 to Protect Dietary Supplements

May 1, 2007

The Honorable Mike Enzi
400 S. Kendrick Avenue, Suite 303
Gillette, WY 82716

Phone DC (202) 224-3424
Fax DC (202) 228-0359
Phone Wyoming (307) 682-6268
Fax Wyoming (307) 682-6501

Dear Senator Enzi;

The issue of drug safety is of the utmost importance to myself and all Americans. I am concerned, however, that bill S.1082, as currently written, opens the door for considerable regulatory confusion.

There must be no confusing the safety of drugs and the safety of food and food ingredients ? which are governed by different laws. This bill authorizes, on pages 106-107, the creation of a new regulatory category that enables the FDA and the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA to attack dietary supplements and functional foods.

I am sure you were not intending to create such confusion, and this matter is easily corrected with a simple amendment. Please support the following amendment to S1082:

The Amendment:

The bill, S1082, is hereby amended to eliminate any reference to the terms food or food ingredients, such that food and food ingredients will not be subject to any jurisdiction or control by the Regan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration.

Intent of amendment:

To eliminate from the bill any possibility that food or food ingredients would be treated like drugs either for safety review purposes or for assessment of their efficacy. It is a fundamental tenet of food and drug law that foods and food ingredients are presumed to be safe and have to be established to be adulterated only if they present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury

Sincerely,

------------------------Additional Note:

We'll have an additional chance to kill and amend this legislation in the House and I will need to make an emergency trip to DC. This situation is very much like what we faced back in 1989 when the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act was a stealth bill that was fast tracked through the House and was on its way to the Senate like a guided missile aimed straight for the heart of the supplement industry. When I first noticed it, it was July, and I was hard at work on a book I was writing which I was forced to stop work on as I jumped in with both feet to try to kill the NLEA. July and August are the hardest months to try to move the grass roots to action because so many people are on vacation. I have never lobbied for health freedom before and did not know what to do, so I sought guidance from Clinton Ray Miller.

He advised me to make a list of every health food store within a 50 mile radius of my house and to take a form letter to them all to urge them to bagstuff them and to get their customers into motion contacting congress. I said to Clint, "But that takes in Manhatten island Clint, we're talking about THOUSANDS of stores in NYC and North Jersey!" His response still echoes down through the years in my memory banks "How badly do you REALLY WANT your HEALTH FREEDOM?"

My back is to the WALL. I have a GENETIC NEED for the supplements I use. With no one helping me, I made a list on a legal yellow pad of every health food store in my area, got directions to them, kept a log of the names of owners, managers and went to as many as I could with form letters. The vast majority told me to GET LOST, CAN'T YOU SEE WE'RE BUSY?
For a long time I was baffled, but eventually learned that NNFA (Now NPA) was FOR the bad bill. Over MONTHS of outraged grass roots pressure they eventually did a 180 and turned AGAINST the bad bill.

We didn't kill it, but we DID CURB some of its worst excesses- but most IMPORTANTLY, we ALERTED THE PUBLIC and started the movement of the huge AVALANCHE of letters that helped us pass DSHEA in '94 to protect ourselves. Today, ALL of that HARD WORK is being threatened by what is unfolding between S.1082 and the FDA's Trilateral Cooperation Charter and we ALL must WORK TOGETHER to ONCE AGAIN Awaken the Sleeping Giant: The American People. This is HARD work, but its work we MUST DO because OUR LIVES and the lives of future generations depend on us right now.

IAHF 556 Boundary Bay Rd.
Point Roberts WA 98281 USA
Paypal: http://www.iahf.com/index1.html
For Health Freedom, John C. Hammell, President International Advocates for Health Freedom 556 Boundary Bay Road Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA http://www.iahf.com jham@iahf.com 800-333-2553 N.America 360-945-0352 World

--------------------
Russ Tanner of Herb Allure
Today they'll call you "crazy". Tomorrow they'll call you "ahead of your time."

Truth in Advertising: Clayton announces more BS programs

2008-04-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

Clayton Schools' Google text ads often pop up when searching online for things naturopathic.
The ad below is candid about the value of the programs.

Naturopathic

Earn your BS PhD., Certificate in Nat. Health, Naturopathy, Nutrition

NaturalHealthDegrees.com

Making Noise in the Senate Chamber

2008-04-13T18:43:00.003-05:00

Interesting 'Colorado Springs Independent' newspaper article from 2006 describes the fight surrounding efforts to regulate NDs in Colorado.
Includes a nice sketch of Health Freedom's Boyd Landry, the fearsome opponent of naturopathic physicians everywhere, who often visits Minnesota as well.
The article claims that 'Landry's group is largely funded by corporate sponsors from the natural supplement industry'.

JANUARY 19, 2006
RX for confusion
Colorado’s lack of regulation leaves alternative doctors on risky ground

By DAN WILCOCK

Terminal.

For 19-year-old Sean Flanagan, the heartbreaking diagnosis came on the day, two years ago, when he hoped Denver's Children's Hospital doctors would tell him he was free of cancer.

The previous year, he'd been through nearly every treatment modern medicine could throw at him: surgery to remove a football-sized tumor from his pelvis, bone marrow transplants, skin-slaking radiation therapy, a leg amputation and various chemotherapies.

It hadn't been enough. Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes most commonly in teenagers, had won the chemical war. To the doctors, the purple tumor knobs on Sean's stump said it all.

If conventional medicine had failed their son, Dave and Laura Flanagan asked themselves, what about alternatives? Weren't there safe natural remedies that could be tried?

The Centennial couple hired Brian O'Connell, who claimed to be an N.M.D., or naturopathic medical doctor. A wall full of credentials and certificates decorated his practice, Mountain Area Naturopathic Associates in Wheat Ridge, a suburb northwest of Denver.

Dave Flanagan says they wanted to help Sean live out his remaining months in less pain. O'Connell, he says, promised to do a lot better: He said he'd save their son. "He said, 'No Irish kid's going to die on my watch.'"

In the first of four treatments, O'Connell injected the teenager with hydrogen peroxide and withdrew his blood with the same syringe. The blood then was exposed to a UV light machine before being returned to his body -- a process called "photoluminescence." Meanwhile, an IV drip administered a cocktail of vitamins into the bloodstream.

Nine days after beginning this treatment, the oxygen level in Sean's veins plummeted to around 18 percent of its normal level, and the teen's skin turned grey. He died on Dec. 19, 2003.

O'Connell was arrested three months later and subsequently booked on 14 counts, including reckless manslaughter, multiple assaults, fraud, theft, practicing medicine without a license, and possession of controlled substances. Dave and Laura Flanagan watched the arrest on TV with horror.

Sean Flanagan isn't the only patient listed in the case against O'Connell, who is charged with assaulting a number of other patients. One went into cardiac arrest, and another died with large open wounds after O'Connell brought him to the emergency room at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge.

But Flanagan's grisly death has become a flashpoint in an increasingly heated battle over whether alternative, or naturopathic, doctors should be regulated in Colorado.

Proponents of regulation argue that O'Connell never should have been able to present himself as a naturopathic doctor, because he possessed only flimsy credentials. Police discovered that Flanagan's training in naturopathic medicine had been a correspondence course from the Herbal Healer Academy in Mountain View, Ark.

In the summer of 2004, following his arrest, O'Connell allegedly began seeing patients again. He subsequently was slapped with another round of criminal charges. Lack of oversight, regulation proponents say, allowed him to prey on ignorant consumers.

O'Connell could not be reached, and his attorney declined comment for this story. He goes to trial on Jan. 31 at the Jefferson County District Court in Golden.

Colorado's freewheeling marketplace

Pointing at the O'Connell case and others, the state's Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) agreed this fall that something needed to be done.

Having studied the issue for more than 10 years and having issued two previous reports on the topic, the state's professional credentialing agency put its weight behind an application to regulate naturopathic doctors in Colorado. Failure to license qualified naturopathic doctors puts citizens at risk by allowing an unsafe marketplace, according to its report issued Oct. 14.

The recommendation was greeted with gratitude by many of the 84 practicing naturopathic doctors in Colorado, including at least four in Colorado Springs, who arguably have the right to call themselves "doctors" under the state's Consumer Protection Act because they've earned U.S. Department of Education-approved postgraduate degrees in natural medicine.

Dave and Laura Flanagan, of Centennial, lost their son Sean to cancer just days after Brian O’Connell began what they say he promised would be life-saving treatments. Police later discovered that although O’Connell called himself a naturopathic medical doctor, his training consisted only of a correspondence course.
Dan Wilcock

"More and more people are interested in this kind of care," says Rena Bloom, a Denver naturopathic doctor and president of the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians, made up of naturopaths who have earned accredited degrees.

Unlike O'Connell, doctors who graduate from one of the three nationally accredited four-year residential colleges (or from a fourth college currently a candidate for accreditation) study a wide range of alternative treatments. They base those treatments on a foundation of conventional, science-based medical training.

Naturopathic doctors, or N.D.s, offer themselves as guides through the expanding maze of available alternative remedies, including herbs, diet changes and homeopathy.

The key difference between naturopaths and conventional medical doctors is the naturopathic philosophy that the body can heal itself if treated holistically, not just through attacking individual symptoms with surgery and drugs.

The ranks of formally trained naturopaths have steadily grown across the country over the last 20 years. Fifteen states and the nation's capital now offer them licenses as primary care providers.

But the resistance to legitimizing them has grown, too.

They face opposition from many medical doctors who call them "quacks," and who view alternative remedies as scientifically unproven and threatening to their own practices.

Even more fiercely opposed to the idea of licensing alternative doctors in Colorado are the multitude of less formally trained healers, many of whom boast correspondence course degrees. They often prefer Colorado's current freewheeling marketplace and fear that licenses would lock them out of a thriving business.

The battle between all camps is likely to be ferocious if Colorado's Legislature, which holds the power to create professional licensing boards, takes up the issue within the next two years.

Although naturopath licensure bills have been introduced and failed three times before -- in 1993, 1995 and 1999 -- the DORA recommendation and the O'Connell case may create a tipping point.

Rigorous training

In looking for an alternative doctor, the Flanagan family wasn't acting out of the mainstream.

At least one-third of all Americans now complement standard medicine with some kind of alternative care, such as naturopathy, acupuncture or massage therapy, according to a study by The New England Journal of Medicine.

That amounts to a $40 billion industry annually, according to some estimates.

Naturopathy employs a wide palette of alternative treatments, ranging from herb usage to massage techniques and spinal manipulation.

"I was not attracted to surgery, I was not attracted to drug therapy," says Bloom, who says she easily could have pursued a degree in conventional medicine after going pre-med at the University of Massachusetts in the 1980s.

But her heart was drawn to alternative care. "I was interested in teaching people what they could do to become healthy," she says. "The combination of studying medicine with natural therapies was, to me, a perfect fit."

Earning a four-year doctorate in naturopathy from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., suited her pragmatic personality.

Students there spend the first two years of study immersed in classes similar to those taken by med-school students, including anatomy, physiology, pediatrics and obstetrics, and going through other rigorous training. During the third and fourth years, the focus is naturopathic, on things such as diet regimes, botanical medicine and pharmacology for natural remedies. Meanwhile, students complete more than 1,500 hours of clinical internship study with both licensed naturopathic physicians and conventional medical doctors.

National College is one of three fully accredited institutions offering N.D. degrees. A fourth, the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, is approaching its fifth year of candidacy status with the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education.

Rena Bloom, of the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians.
Dan Wilcock

After earning her degree in 1991, Bloom applied for and received a license to practice naturopathy in Oregon. But instead of practicing there, she and her husband, also a naturopath, moved to uncharted territory.

"We didn't waste any time," she says. "We moved here and got hopping right away."

Although Colorado didn't offer licenses, the pair established a practice in Denver in 1992 that, like the health alternative marketplace, began to thrive.

"When we first moved to Denver in 1992, if you wanted echinacea or glucosamine sulfate, you went to Alfalfa's, Wild Oats or the co-op," she says. These days, "customers shop for herbs at CostCo, a Walgreens and Target."

Walking into a madhouse

In 1993, Bloom found an ally in the fight for recognition in then-state Rep. Russell George, a Republican from Rifle.

"He looked at us and said, 'Let me get this straight. You're well-trained. You're offering a service to the citizens of Colorado that they want and appreciate, and you're practicing medicine without a license?'

"We said, 'Uh huh.'

"And he said, 'Well something needs to be done about that.' And from that day forth, he sponsored our bills."

From 1993 until 1999, George, who became speaker of the house, championed bills to regulate naturopaths.

Although bills failed in 1993 and 1995, the stars appeared to have aligned for licensure in 1999. The Colorado Medical Society -- the state's largest membership society of medical doctors and students -- agreed to not oppose licensing if the law stated that naturopaths would not prescribe medicine, do minor surgery, deliver babies or use the title of "physician."

The bill appeared poised for approval.

Then, everything went haywire.

On April 20, 1999, the Columbine school massacre happened. Uproar followed at the state Capitol, and all other issues got pushed back.

When Bloom finally was invited to the State House to make what she had expected to be a simple presentation, licensing opponents had come out in full force.

"The basement was swarming with people with these big buttons on. It was one of these 'No!' buttons with our bill number on it."

As many as 150 people flooded the hearing room, prompting the senators to move to a larger space. Dozens of people rose to speak against licensing naturopaths, the first being a stocky man named Boyd Landry.

Landry, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Coalition for Natural Health, a nonprofit organization that fights against licensing naturopaths, had mobilized the bill's ambush.

To this day, George, now executive director of the state's Department of Natural Resources, remains convinced that regulating alternative doctors is the right thing to do.

"The more I learned, the more impressed I was to learn how well-trained they are, how strong their academic training is," he says.

Anti-licensing crusader Boyd Landry.
Dan Wilcock

He, too, was surprised by the sudden emergence of the activists in the Senate chamber. "When you have that much noise in the system, it's hard to accomplish anything."

Lobbying for health freedom

Landry represents the multitude of alternative healers who go into practice without fancy degrees -- including reiki practitioners, Rolfers, traditional naturopaths, aroma therapists and hydrotherapists.

He says he'll travel to any state to oppose naturopath licensing: Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota and Rhode Island all have been recent stops.

"I'm one of Delta's favorite customers," he says in a recent interview at a diner near Denver International Airport.

He often hires the best lobbyist available. In Denver seven years ago, that was Pancho Hayes, who also represented Philip Morris and the Denver Broncos.

Landry's group is largely funded by corporate sponsors from the natural supplement industry. The massive industry wants to ensure that their products aren't targeted for further regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

Landry, who has no medical background, has been successful in supporting "health freedom" laws in six states that guarantee the right to dispense non-medical alternative care without a license. Focusing on who should be called a "doctor," he says, isn't important.

"People deal with tree doctors, muffler doctors, glass doctors," he says. "There's all kinds of doctors out there."

And as for the risks of allowing dangerous novices to call themselves doctors, Landry is dismissive.

"Doctors kill people all day long," he says. "That's why we have malpractice."

The case of Mark Cooper

But the idea of regulation makes a lot of sense to one of the naturopathic doctors listed in Colorado's DORA report.

Mark Cooper, an accredited-school naturopath and licensed acupuncturist, runs the Alpine Naturopathic Clinic in Colorado Springs. He can attest that the state's lack of regulation poses risks for the practitioner as well as the patient.

Cooper graduated from National College in the same year as Bloom. Like Bloom, he operates a thriving practice and has forged working relationships with several local medical doctors. Most of his patients come to him, he says, "because they've exhausted their options to treat their diseases."

Last summer, Cooper became the focus of an investigation, and ultimately was sued for practicing medicine without a license, by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

But unlike O'Connell, the Wheat Ridge naturopath, no one was accusing Cooper of having harmed anyone.

The lawsuit, he says, had more to do with retaliation for providing primary care as an alternative doctor.

"The people who lashed out at me never even met me," Cooper says of the two Colorado Springs medical doctors who pushed to bring the action against him.

In 2002, Cooper successfully removed a patient's abscessed hemorrhoid; in 2004, he sold a thyroid medication to a patient. He was trained to perform both procedures, but because he has no license, he was accused of illegally practicing medicine.

Cooper settled the case last fall, signing an injunction that says he will refrain from writing prescriptions and doing surgery, injections and IV therapy.

Although he plans to fully honor the terms of the injunction, he chalks the penalty and the thousands of dollars he spent fighting the lawsuit up to a "turf war" between naturopathic care and conventional medicine.

"I'm interfering in an economic business in Colorado Springs," he says, calling the lawsuit "financial retaliation." With no regulation, it's easy for M.D.s to wield current laws to discriminate against naturopaths and keep them on unsure ground by resisting the creation of a scope of practices for naturopathic doctors.

Cooper says the same exclusionary tactics have been employed against other medical disciplines throughout history: Chiropractors had to battle for legitimacy but now are licensed in all 50 states; pharmacists used to be prohibited from patient counseling; and so on.

"Regulation in health care," Cooper says, "is almost exclusively to the patient's benefit."

And it also could be to the benefit to M.D.s, he says, because with regulation, he'd be able to cooperate more openly with the medical establishment and refer more patients to conventional physicians.

Giving legitimacy

Last year, delegates of the Colorado Medical Society -- the same organization that was neutral on naturopathic regulation in 1999 -- voted to strongly oppose regulation of alternative doctors.

Laura Pomerenke, a surgeon and president of the El Paso County Medical Society, explains.

"When you license someone, you're giving them, in terms of the public, some kind of legitimacy," she says.

Yet Pomerenke acknowledges that medical doctors possibly have a self-serving interest in blocking regulation. "I can't believe it's completely altruistic," she says.

Indeed, despite high salaries -- the 2003 U.S. median salary for family physicians was $146,000 a year, according to the University of Virginia -- medical doctors are not immune from professional jealousy and greed.

And many medical doctors can sense the shift in the medical marketplace towards holistic prevention, natural remedies and organics. Even though at least a third of Americans consult with alternative care providers, some 75 percent of them don't tell their medical doctors they are doing so, according to a 1997 report from the Council on Scientific Affairs.

"We've all worked pretty hard to become doctors. You want to make sure if they're calling themselves a doctor, you want to know their standards," Pomerenke says. "What is the standard of care for naturopathic medicine? I don't know."

'All about balancing'

Despite strenuous resistance from some pockets of the medical community, the resistance to licensing naturopaths may be fading nationwide.

One of a small community of academics studying the regulation of the current alternative medicine boom is Michael H. Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

"It's all about balancing," he says. "A person has the right to say what will happen with his own body."

Naturopaths who have gone through rigorous training but operate in unlicensed states "are at risk," he notes. "They operate in a grey zone."

But the antagonism that currently bristles between naturopaths and M.D.s in Colorado may give way to new cooperative relationships, he says.

"Cross-referral is probably the wave of the future," he says.

That evolution of consciousness may not happen fast enough in Colorado, says Laura Flanagan. Now a big proponent of regulation, Flanagan hopes she can help prevent the kind of tragedy that may have robbed her son's last months of life.

"We need to continue to push and let people know about this," she says about the fight to regulate naturopaths, "so that people like [O'Connell] won't have such easy access to the public."

COMMENTS

State of Reliefs: Time Magazine looks at Utah's MLM diet supplement industry

2008-04-13T18:29:00.003-05:00

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1541294,00.html

State of Reliefs

Looking for a great business opportunity? Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and join the XanGo team
By JEFFREY RESSNER / SALT LAKE CITY

Posted Oct. 01, 2006 Looking for a great business opportunity? Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and join the XanGo team. Pronounced zang-go, this powerful elixir comes from the mangosteen, a fruit grown in the jungles of Thailand. The juice is anti-inflammatory! Antidepressant! Antitumor! Now you too can be a distributor of this incredible formula for a one-time fee of just $35 plus $100 for the first four bottles. Not one of those claims has been conclusively proved, but similarly worded pitches--made in e-mails or other direct solicitations to independent marketers have helped XanGo pass $200 million in sales in 2005. The four-year-old company is just the latest big player in the country's $23.5 billion dietary-supplement trade--much of it based here in an arid stretch of Utah called the Wasatch Front.

More than 100 supplement companies dot the terrain alongside I-15 snaking through Salt Lake City, Utah, generating $4 billion in annual sales--four times the revenue of the state's more famous ski trade. The herbal health business is so prevalent in this area that it has been nicknamed Cellulose Valley, after the primary component of green plants.

Why Utah? For one thing, the dry air is ideal for storing precious powders. For another, politicians like Senator Orrin Hatch have helped create a fertile regulatory climate. Then there's the long-standing environment of support for the products. Many Utah supplement companies are owned or operated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In the 1800s, LDS founder Joseph Smith blamed traditional medicine for his brother's death and his own traumatic leg surgery. Early Mormon writings praised the "plants and roots, which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases." In the 1940s, Mormon herbalist John Christopher preached about natural healing. A few decades later, three Utah companies--Nature's Herbs, Nature's Way and Nature's Sunshine--began selling his formulas.

But it's Utah's entrepreneurial attitude that perhaps accounts most of all for the boom. A large portion of supplements is sold through multilevel marketing, commonly known as MLM--or person-to-person sales. The trade publication Nutrition Business Journal estimates that $7.7 billion in supplements was sold in U.S. vitamin stores last year, $6 billion by food markets and big-box outlets and $4.2 billion via MLM distribution. "It's a substantial figure," says journal editor Grant Ferrier. "Roughly 20% of all sales come from MLM, and Utah is the stronghold."

One reason for Utah's MLM success seems again to stem from the church. Nature's Sunshine became the first to go that route back in 1975, and Mormons--trained in door-to-door evangelism through compulsory missions--proved natural salespeople. "The church provides a network--a real plus factor for MLM companies," says Rory Mahony, general manager of Nature's Way, which sells through health-food and vitamin shops. Under direct-sales plans, independent reps earn commissions for items they sell but also receive payouts by recruiting others to become distributors. The bigger one's network, the better.

The MLM model has been upgraded with sophisticated tracking software, video blogs and other high-tech means to tell the story of the product's value, which distributors say is the key to clinching sales. Utah companies like XanGo reach far beyond state boundaries with evangelists like Francine Blain, a single mother and former contract attorney from Santa Monica, Calif. Blain signed on two years ago as a XanGo distributor. When not tending to her 5-year-old son, she's immersed in all things XanGo--tinkering with her eponymous website, talking to the "upline" sponsor who signed her, recruiting more "downline" distributors, listening to motivational training sessions and using an automated dialing system to cold-call strangers who have expressed interest in supplements or owning a home business.

Blain is a manic, mouthy merchant of mangosteen. "No commute. No dress code. I never have to leave the house. I've found my dream job," she says. She envisions XanGo paying for her son's education, homes in Manhattan and Paris and "the freedom to pursue my artistic side." As for XanGo's health benefits, Blain is a believer. "My friend's father had pancreatic cancer," she says. "After XanGo, he had much more energy."

Gung-ho marketers like Blain have helped propel XanGo to the fore of the business. The privately held company aims to hit sales of $1 billion by decade's end. "We're ahead of projections on our fourth year," says co-founder Gordon Morton at his orange-hued headquarters in Lehi, Utah. "We're very bullish we'll hit our goal." (Some publicly traded supplement firms also use MLM sales, among them Usana and Nu Skin, with fiscal 2005 revenues of $328 million and $1.2 billion, respectively.)

Though wildly successful, the MLM business model has opened supplement companies to a persistent complaint: the stuff doesn't work as claimed. Because independent marketers are not scrutinized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the business has long been criticized for pushing unwarranted claims through its network of sellers. "While you have the FDA breathing down your neck about what your company can legally say, distributors like Bob and Mary can tell their friends whatever they want," says Dan Hurley, author of the forthcoming exposÈ Natural Causes. He writes that aside from fish oil, vitamin D and a handful of other vitamins and minerals, "the vast majority of supplements taken by Americans have been proven to be unsafe, ineffective or both."

In the case of XanGo, "no published clinical trials [show] evidence that either the fruit or its juice is an effective treatment for arthritis, cancer or any other disorder in humans," writes Dr. Brent Bauer, the Mayo Clinic's alternative-medicine specialist. Mangosteens contain antioxidants called xanthones that have been shown to stop certain bacteria and fungi in lab tests. Yet independent-distributor sites claim the juice helps everything from Alzheimer's disease to kidney stones. XanGo's Morton concedes that wild claims are being made. "With 600,000 distributors, some stuff gets past our compliance [measures]," he says. "Overpromising and underdelivering is a problem in any company, from painting houses to selling cars."

Sure. But promising a nice paint job isn't the same as claiming to cure cancer. In 1997, Utah-based Nu Skin paid $1.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission, which monitors advertising claims, for five products it said could reduce fat and build muscle. Before that, the company was accused of making unsubstantiated claims about a baldness treatment and a wrinkle lotion. Packaging for many Nu Skin products (and those from sister company Pharmanex) now carries an array of disclaimer asterisks.

Any major regulatory oversight would be a new hurdle for the supplement business, thanks to some old friends in Washington. Senator Hatch co-sponsored the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which released manufacturers from demonstrating that products were safe before being sold. Hatch has invested in a Utah company called Pharmics, and other supplement companies contribute regularly to his campaigns. XanGo recently became Hatch's top contributor, with executives donating $46,200.

Not even Hatch could halt the industry's dose of bad press, though, over ephedra. The FDA received more than 800 reports of adverse effects from the Chinese weight-loss herb before it proposed limiting doses in 1997. A subsequent study tied 155 deaths to various ephedra products, but uncontrolled sales weren't banned until 2004. Utah company Neutraceutical Corp. is still arguing that lower doses are safe, but in August the firm was overruled by an appeals court.

Another concern: supplement companies may soon have to rethink their MLM models in order to go global. In July, Nu Skin received word that China's Ministry of Commerce has approved the company's proposal to begin direct sales in that country early next year. (So far, Avon is the only other such U.S. company allowed there.) Nu Skin has poured $100 million into manufacturing plants and opened 150 retail shops in China. But it won't be business as usual. Under the license, Chinese distributors earn commissions on products sold outside stores but won't be paid to recruit other sellers. "The government was not inclined to allow multilevel or tiered compensation," says CEO Truman Hunt.

With much of Asia already supplement crazy, U.S. companies believe that China is a natural market for their goods, many of which are derived, after all, from Asian herbs and plants. Consider the buzz in holistic-healing circles around Himalayan goji berries, used in Tibet for nearly 2,000 years to treat kidney problems, allergies, diabetes and tuberculosis. At least that's according to the marketing materials of Timpanogos Nursery, a farm growing goji berries--in Utah. The mangosteen may have met its match.

Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform links to one of the largest diet supplement multi-level marketing (MLM) companies

2008-04-13T16:07:00.006-05:00

The Minnesota Health freedom groups had not yet posted their position opposing the ND Registration Bill on their own websites by the middle of March 2008.
The only online 'ALARM' opposing this bill I found at that time
was on the site for the Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation.
Its URL was
http://www.sunshinehealthfreedomfoundation.com/page/page/5629935.htm

The Sunshine Health Freedom foundation is supported by the Nature Sunshine Products.
In this instance, there was no effort to create an illusion of distance from the corporate sponsor.
The top alert was penned by Denise B. Bird, a corporate officer of the Nature Sunshine Products, Inc., and is addressed to 'Minnesota Resident/NSP manager'.
Below is the entire page:

--Start--

Home
***IMPORTANT ALERTS****
What We Do
Who We Are
What Can I Do
STATE COORDINATORS
STATE REPORTS
State Freedom Groups
NAT'L FREEDOM ACTIVISTS
National Organizations
Find your Representative
Links and Learning
Contact Us
**Minnesota Alert**
MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

MARCH 14, 2005(sic)

Minnesota SF 1520

Dear Minnesota resident/NSP Manager:

We recently received important information from the
Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation. Please review
this information and pass it along to your successline
Members.

As mentioned in the letter (link) below, we urge you
to oppose Minnesota SF 1520. Please email or fax this
letter to members of the Judiciary Committee and the
State and Local Government Operations Committee.
Information about SF 1520 / Prepared letter to fax or
email
Contact information for Judiciary and Operations
Committees

Thank you for your continued participation and support
in the fight for legislative freedom!

Best Regards,

Denise B. Bird
Director - Paralegal Services
Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.

Additional Alert 3-18-08

NEW MNHLRP Action Alert -- Oppose SF 1520 -- Call and
Email Now!

Dear Health Freedom Friends,
Sorry this is out so late. We only just found out
and still do not have all the details. The Senate
hearing time has changed. We ask that you politely --
with your best Minnesota Nice -- ask each Senator to
oppose the bill. We also encourage you to attend the
hearing to show your opposition to SF1520. The
hearing will be either tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
Please do what you can do to ensure that health
freedom is secure.
You may copy and paste the following message into
your email. Thanks
Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project

Respected Senator,
I OPPOSE Senate File 1520. This bill has not
undergone a thorough examination nor had the
thoughtful analysis that it needs. And there is no
opportunity for public testimony. I ask that you
protect my freedom of access to all natural health
modalities and practitioners and secure the status of
Minn. Stat. 146A. Please oppost SF 1520 and vote NO.
Sincerely,

MNHLRP
www.mnhlrp.org
mnhlrp@charter.net
Powered by CityMax.com

--End--

In the above page 'Information about SF 1520 / Prepared letter to fax or
email' links to 'oppose sf 1520' form letter prepared by the MNHLRP's lobbyist,
Karen Studders, J.D.
An interesting detail is
that this form letter is served by one of NSP corporate web servers. The URL is below and is still active today; text of the letter follows.

http://www.naturessunshine.com/contentserver/GetMiscFile.axd?id=hf_mn_march08.htm

--Start--

PLEASE OPPOSE SF 1520
This Bill will DESTROY Minnesota’s Health Freedom
Statute 146A

The Honorable Senator ______________________________
________________2008

Minnesota Senate
______________________________

___________________________Fax

Dear Senator _______________________________:

I respectfully urge you to OPPOSE SF 1520, a
dangerously restrictive Naturopathic Doctor
Registration bill with broad implications for consumer
choice.
Under existing law, MN Statute 146A, Minnesota
currently allows consumers to access the traditional
healing methods of their choice, and currently ensures
all traditional unlicensed healers practicing
complementary and alternative health care under MN
Statute 146A are not charged with practicing medicine
without a license. We want to ensure that traditional
naturopaths and unlicensed complementary and
alternative health care providers practicing
naturopathy under MN Statute 146A will be able to
continue to practice in Minnesota.
MN Statute 146A already allows complementary and
alternative health care practitioners to practice
naturopathy, and allows consumers to receive
naturopathy and its associated modalities.
There is no consumer need for an additional law
requiring registration of a small, select group of
naturopathic practitioners that already have the right
to practice under existing law.
SF 1520 endangers consumer choices and health
freedoms.
SF 1520 potentially makes it illegal for hundreds of
valuable unlicensed persons to practice their healing
arts unless they are registered with the state and
graduates of a four-year naturopathic school.
As an informed consumer, I want the freedom to make my
own choices about my health care, including the right
to choose from unlicensed health care practitioners
and naturopaths in Minnesota, practicing under MN
Statute 146A. I do not support unnecessary
registration or licensure for unlicensed natural
health practitioners or complementary and alternative
health care practitioners who are not involved in
high-risk practices or posing an imminent risk of harm
to the public.
Please protect my rights and ensure that Minnesota
citizens will continue to have health freedom to
access all traditional naturopaths and other natural,
complementary and alternative health care
practitioners practicing naturopathy under MN Statute
146A.
MINNESOTA HEALTH SEEKERS DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR OPTIONS
PROTECTED!!!

_________________________________________________________________________________
Signature
Print Name

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Address City
State
Zip

Prepared by Karen Studders, J.D., for Minnesota
Natural Health Legal Reform Project, www.mnhlrp.org OR
651-322-4542

--End--

Now, what is NSP, the organization hosting this "Please
Oppose SF 1520" letter?
It is one of the largest multi-level marketing diet supplement companies in the world.

From their website:

http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/company/history/history.aspx,

--Start--

...soon realized they wanted to touch more lives with
their products, and they found the perfect vehicle for
making this happen—direct marketing. This business
model allowed them to educate consumers about the
products and provided their sales force an opportunity
to share in the success of the company. Today Nature’s
Sunshine Products (NSP) can be found in 33 countries,
represented by nearly 600,000 distributors,

--End--

600,000 distributors equal a considerable "grassroots" base.

MNHLRP organizes campaign to kill registration at any cost. Please support NDs in Minnesota and SF 1520.

2008-04-12T17:42:00.007-05:00

On April 7, 2008, ' The Essential Wellness' magazine sent out an 'eblast' to organize a mass protest against Registration Bill.

'Eblast' text below:

> From: Essential Wellness newspaper
> [mailto:wellness@centurytel.net]
> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 9:26 AM
> To: nlcst@charter.net
> Subject: Today: Call to legislative action for
> Minnesota healthcare practitioners
>
>
>
> Essential Wellness newspaper
>
>
>
>
> April 7, 2008
>
>
>
> Greetings!
>
> THIS IS FOR MINNESOTA PEOPLE ONLY
> REGARDING A MN BILL now in the legislative which
> threatens health freedom.
>
>
>
> Sorry, WI people, I just did not have
> time to sort through the email list to delete you!
>
>
>
> First visit: www.mnhlrp.org
>
>
>
> Please read this entire email.
>
>
>
> Naturopathic Guidelines in jeopardy
>
>
>
> Did you know the "Naturopathic Doctor"
> registration bill, HF 1724/SF 1520, in the MN
> Legislature is listing a therapy you practice under
> Chapter 146A now as their expertise?
>
>
>
>
> We need people who want to talk with
> the Representatives who are on this committee. We
> need lots of people to meet me at the State Office
> Building, 100 Martin Luthor King BLvd, in the lobby
> at 10:30am TODAY. They can call Katie Murphy at
> 651-470-3174. I will instruct them what to do and
> take them to the Capitol bldg to meet the
> Representatives that carry the vote that afternoon.
> This will be the ONLY chance anyone has to talk to
> the Representatives. They must wear business
> professional clothing -(no sneakers or jeans). Tell
> them to bring quarters for parking (do not park in
> Sears parking lot). We need people to carry signs &
> protest this bill @ 2:00 pm.
>
>
>
>
> Participate in an old fashion Protest.
> Show up on Monday, April 7th at 2:00pm, at the
> entrance of State Office Bldg, 100 Rev. Martin
> Luthor Kind Blvd, bring a sign if you can. We need
> everyone, hundreds of people!! We are trying to
> get the TV and Radio media alerted to the problem.
>
> MNHLRP's efforts to amend the bill are
> not being heard. MNHLRP needs your help to stop
> this legislation. Rally at the Capitol the Monday,
> April 7th at 2pm and literally hold up signs of
> protest!
>
>
>
> Please visit our website for more
> information about this bill, your right to practice
> and your freedom of access to the health care
> modalities of your choice! http://www.mnhlrp.org
>
>
>
> 1. This bill claims (and I quote)
> "the therapeutic use of the physical agents of air,
> water, heat, cold, sound, light, and electromagnetic
> nonionizing radiation and the physical modalities of
> electrotherapy, diathermy, ultraviolet light,
> hydrotherapy, massage, stretching, colon
> hydrotherapy, frequency specific microcurrent,
> electrical muscle stimulation, transcutaneous
> electrical nerve stimulation, and therapeutic
> exercise." to be their domain - just to name a few
> !! Imagine that! AIR and WATER their healing
> agents - SOUND and LIGHT their healing agents!! Are
> you not concerned? They also claim "Food, food
> extracts, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc to be
> THEIR domain. see the copy of attached bill.
>
> 2. The real behind the scenes problem
> - the "Client Bill of Rights" under which we all
> practice will not cover us in the future when the
> "Naturopathic Doctors" move forward to form a State
> Board to License. Why? Because all our therapies
> will be in their domain. What could be worse?
> Their "License Board" will be under the umbrella of
> the "Medical License Board". They will have the
> easy next step of setting up the REQUIREMENTS for us
> to practice.
>
> 3. Why are many Naturopathic Doctors
> against those "PUSHING" this through? Because the
> bill limits registration to only graduates of
> CERTAIN SCHOOLS within a specific time period. That
> means those schools are trying to get CONTROL and
> put themselves in place for NATIONAL REGULATION.
>
>
>
> We need to stop this. We CAN STOP
> this and it won't take that much work.
>
>
>
> But it will take numbers of us to be
> heard.
>
>
>
> Katie Murphy

well regulated naturopathic medicine

Run Tona, Run

Naturopathic legislative news from across the nation (The Daily Times, Maryville, TN) :

Candidate promoting questionable college degree

Court ruling

Monroe-Ball responds

Quality control process

Another accreditation

Minneapolis Star Tribune article

A bitter fight over who can be called 'doctor'

"They have Lust again"

2004 Idaho Senate Committee testimony on naturopathic licensure

Jared Zeff's letter to the Journal of Naturopathy (1997)

Minnesota Statute 147E text posted online

Primum Non Nocere: North Carolina naturopathic doctors appeal to the state Medical Board for support

From the Governor's Bill Log

1962 Milton Friedman Essay

2005 MMA (Minnesota Medical Association) Report lists objections to licensing naturopathic medicine

May 17 2008 5th Engrossment HF1724 text

I hope everyone has had enough of this for now and will take a break

It's been said

And the good news is, HF 1724 passes!

Low points of May 13 Senate Finance Amendment

Open Letter

Nature's Sunshine Products under federal investigation

What else opposes regulating naturopathy besides the bogus diploma mills and the MLMs? Please read on.

Support Naturopathic Doctors and SF1520! 3 reasons the "workgroup" proposal from the MNHLRP is groundless.

Please Support Naturopathic Doctors in Minnesota and SF 1520! A look at the new 'Action Alert' from the MNHLRP

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

WEDNESDAY MAY 1, 2008

An important reason to support SF 1520 and protect the title 'Registered Naturopathic Doctor'

100 Years Ago in Medical Education: The Flexner Report

The Organic Consumers Association blindly follows the opponents of SF 1520

Take Action! Oppose Naturopathic Registration Bill and Grass Roots Request!

Please stand up for reason and support SF 1520 to counter the lies MNHLRP repeats in their new 'Action Alert'

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

DID YOU KNOW????Your right to practice and receive natural health product and therapy is in jeopardy? There are bills currently in session that are jeopardizing our rights!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7TH FROM 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Don't Wait Until It's Too Late

WEDNESDAY MAY 1, 2008

Naturopathic Medicine is Naturopathy

Bogus Naturopathic Doctors ARE a public safety issue. Please support SF 1520

Naturopath banned for life

MLM and Naturopathy: Friends or Foes?

The phrases MNHLRP repeats to confuse the public. Please become informed and support SF 1520.

Listen online: KFAI Radio 'Health Notes' talks about N.D. Registration

4/28/2008 Health Notes

Audio Files

MLM company posts another MNHLRP alert. Please fight back and support SF 1520!

MINNESOTA HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT

Here’s a link to find your rep:

Sample Letter

Essential Wellness' Registration Bill Discussion Thread

Andrew Weil speaks in favor of Naturopathic Medical Licensing

How Do You Find a Good Physician? (look for an ND from a reputable school)

"You Will Respect My Authoritah!": practitioners with ridiculous credentials cause real pain and suffering.

Teen's death hastened by practitioner who had bogus diplomas

The Formula for Success, the MLM way. How "NOT" to become a naturopathic doctor.

Natural Health Education and Training Opportunities

"Title Protection, ND or not ND" is no longer the question. YES to NDs and SF 1520!

"health freedom" kills 2008 Colorado licensing bill

Is nothing sacred? From Health Freedom to Hate Freedom

How the NSP tools operate: plan to intimidate a U.S. Senator

Truth in Advertising: Clayton announces more BS programs

Making Noise in the Senate Chamber

State of Reliefs: Time Magazine looks at Utah's MLM diet supplement industry

State of Reliefs

Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform links to one of the largest diet supplement multi-level marketing (MLM) companies

MNHLRP organizes campaign to kill registration at any cost. Please support NDs in Minnesota and SF 1520.

DID YOU KNOW????
Your right to practice and receive natural health product and therapy is in jeopardy? There are bills currently in session that are jeopardizing our rights!

Natural Health Education
and Training Opportunities