The world of medicine is run by billing codes. Every hospital, doctor, and practitioner who accepts insurance or Medicare uses billing codes so they can be reimbursed. But where are the codes for integrative and alternative medical services?
ANH–USA strongly opposed the recently enacted healthcare bill for a variety of reasons. We stand for the freedom of consumers to choose the type of healthcare they want, and the freedom of practitioners to practice without harassment. The healthcare reform act seriously impinges on both. So after a thorough review of our legal options, which took some time, we have decided to join a lawsuit that has been initiated by a distinguished group of physicians to have the act repealed.
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) wants to create a monopoly on state nutritional licensure. This organization—which lists among its corporate sponsors soft drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, cereal manufacturers General Mills and Kellogg’s, candy maker Mars, and Unilever, the multinational corporation that owns many of the world’s consumer products brands in foods and beverages—already has a stranglehold on who can dispense nutritional counseling at the state level.
This was a key federal case argued for ANH-USA and other plaintiffs by Jonathan Emord and the Emord law firm. It was a remarkable seventh victory for Emord over the FDA in the area of allowable health claims for food or supplements. Unless reversed on appeal, the decision restricts the Agency’s ability to place gag orders on the emerging science behind healthy foods and dietary supplements.
In last week’s newsletter, we reported that the staff of the Senate Committee on Aging, led by Senator Kohl (D-WI), was preparing a surprise ambush of dietary supplements in a Senate hearing held last Wednesday. We were right. But we didn’t anticipate how seriously distorted the major media news stories would be.
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is working hard to add an amendment to the Food Safety Bill that would ban BPA in food containers. We oppose the Food Safety Bill but welcome Senator Feinstein’s proposed amendment.
The FDA previously attacked cherry producers. It now says that if you tell consumers about the health benefits of walnuts, you turn walnuts into a drug. Please join us in protesting this attack on both common sense and free speech.
The reexamination of a knee device and a campaign to extend the patent of a blood-thinning medication underscore the need for FDA reform.
Each week brings new studies confirming the benefits of vitamin D, and yet there is widespread vitamin-D deficiency in industrialized nations. Why is the government standing in the way of our addressing this public-health crisis?
Despite beginning a process to retract their previous assertion that BPA (bisphenol A) is safe, the FDA claims to be “powerless to regulate BPA.” Give us a break!