Legislation as a danger to homeopathy-point of view

[Gisela Ahrendt]

Hello Maria
regarding the 'danger to homeopathy' I agree totally with you we should get up in arms. But let me ask you and everyone else reading these posts:
What are the NCH and all the other organizations that have been formed by natural health practitioners doing? It cost quite a bit of money to belong to any of them specially the NCH and they do not lobby congress??? They should be camped on the steps of the Capitol and talk to every one who goes by. ( infact not a bad idea a March on Washington comprised of people who want and need Homeopathy)
But it seems All they are interested, as the schools are, is to make Homeopathy a certification that can only be practiced by people that have been thru their certification - not that I am against that - but now is the time for them to step up and lobby the crap out of congress.
I do not believe that the individual will be able to have or for that matter want get involved - hell only 37% of Americans even vote- so you want them to do what?
No, We Homeopath have to make a fire under the organizations that take our money, and let them know including the schools that sell training and make money with it, with out Homeopathy being legal all of those schools and organizations are out of business.
In PA there will be another session to license ND's and guess who is driving that? The schools who also have clawed homeopathy right into Herbal next to Reiki, and healing hands. It's ridiculous !!!
But no matter what - I will be writing to PA Congress against the licensing. One of the reasons is for the misunderstanding of Homeopathy is that the Homeopath organizations have not done a good enough job to make clear what homeopathy does and does not do - that is why they still trow Homeopathy and Herbalogy into the same pot. The NCH needs to write to the FDA,Congress and Lobby every one who is involved in this ridiculous scheme, that Homeopathy does not have side effects and does not kill.

Does'nt congress have other things to do? The world is going to hell in a hand basket and they worry about Homeopathy, anyone who has been watching the PBS show on Cancer can see - the medical community plus the government is not interested in finding cures they just want to be right, poison and chemicals are right because we can make money with that. And if the Pharmaceutical companies make money the politicians are getting their share its all simple.
But since this forum is read mainly by people who use Homeopathy - WRITE WRITE LOBBY NOT ONLY CONGRESS MEN BUT SCHOOLS AND THE NCH.
I will do my part hope many of you join me.
Gisela Di Carlo,Di.Vet Hom
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2015 08:23:11 -0400
Subject: [Minutus] Legislation as a danger to homeopathy:
Here is information gleaned from several sources:

This bill is an insidious piece of legislation that is trying to be passed under our noses. The references to CONTROL of these Homeopathic Drugs (drugs is what they are called in the HPUS) will eliminate the practice of homeopathic medicine in the USA. It will also so severely restrict the ability to purchase homeopathic products that they would have to be prescribed by a medical doctor.

This is the first step to eliminating all of our rights! And yes, governments have done that that since the beginning of time.

After all, there is a bill MANDATING vaccinations for everyone in the USA soon to be introduced -

We homeopaths, as well as the non homeopathic professional population must be on top of this, or homeopathy will go down in the USA again. Yes it may again go underground - however why should we become criminals and work against the law unless we absolutely have to?

What does it take? A quick email, a quick call to our politicians (Congress people) to say, Hey, I am totally against regulating homeopathic medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements! That is all we are asking for.

Here is more information:

These are cut and pasted from emails I have received, Am passing them to you:
From jesse rettig:
The key premise for this inquiry is safety, as indicated in the meeting notice:
“…drug and biological products, homeopathic ingredients, even if highly diluted, can cause side effects, drug interactions, and allergic or other adverse reactions. Negative health effects from drug products labeled as homeopathic have been reported through the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System and the National Poison Data System (NPDS), which is maintained by the American Association of Poison Control Centers and tracks human poison exposure cases. Data in the NPDS pertaining to homeopathic drug products is tracked under the category ‘‘Homeopathic Agents.’’ The 2012 American Association of Poison Control Center Annual Report indicated that there were 10,311 reported poison exposure cases related to ‘‘Homeopathic Agents,’’ with 8,788 of those reported cases attributed to children 5 years of age and younger (Ref. 3). Of the 10,311 reported cases, 697 required treatment in a health care”.
The FDA in this statement seems to indicate it has a file of reported AER’s that should be obtained relating to homeopathic use. Additionally the data in the NPDS should be reviewed since it doesn’t seem to be consistent with other information know in the industry. Most specifically, the report attributes a death to homeopathy; however, in its own published detail on deaths, the data clearly indicates this person most probably died from over-ingesting herbal supplements. Homeopathy was not even involved.
This significant error in reporting leads one to question how homeopathy was associated to the other 10,313 events that were logged.
Most other categories shown in the report, from pages 199-252, are categorized by specific ingredients and substances. Yet under homeopathy, the categorization is a homeopathic agent. I feel compelled to ask the following questions:
· What the heck is a homeopathic agent?

· Could all these reported incidents be about the alcohol diluent, the lactose tables, or the preservatives used in some preparations?

· Why is there such a significant leaning toward pediatric events which are 84% to 95% over the last 6 years of reports that I looked at?
The perspective here is of the 2,662,456 events reported, 1,499,713 (56%) were classified as pharmaceutical of which homeopathy, under current regulation, had 10313 reported events, or .3% of total events and .7% of pharmaceutical events.
The FDA considers the pharmaceutical industry as the standard for excellence in regulatory process and control; yet, it is this industry that accounts for more than 99 % of the reported events.
It is imperative we get behind the numbers being reported as events in the NPDS data, as this seems to be the cornerstone of the FDA concern. FDA already has the authority to regulate us like the pharmaceutical industry from a manufacturing and labeling basis, so this is about something more.
namaste

jesse rettig
and from: Lisa Platt:
The more we say how great homeopathy is for serious medical problems the more they will want to regulate us

all of these remedies are supposed to be used OTC
this is becoming a very complicated catch 22
share this email too
It’s kind of a two edged sword, isn’t it! The more we prove it works, the more the FDA will make efforts to kill it. The more it is proven that it doesn’t work, the more the FDA will make efforts to kill it!
With the Flexner report, Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller, effectively got the government to shut down homeopathic medical schools and ban electronic medicine to protect the pharmaceutical industry in which they were major stockholders. Only with the acceptance of acupuncture by the NIH after Nixon’s trip to China did that ban begin to abate. Now we are back to a situation similar to the pre-Flexner time. It appears that the FDA is ready to write another Flexner Report.

It is my opinion that we will not sway the FDA—the only way to protect us is via the public contacting Congress. That is what happened with nutraceuticals. When the FDA and President Clinton supported making vitamins Rx-only, it was Congress that stopped them.
It is my opinion that asking physicians to show that homeopathy works will beg the demand for “double blind crossover studies published in multiple peer-reviewed journals” that will effectively kill us. We need to go to the public and get them to contact Congress.——Just my opinion.
Jerry Tennant, MD, MD(H), PSc.D
jtenn@tennantinstitute.com
www.tennantinstitute.com
And the Last one from Nancy

Mass public outcry is needed here. The 114th Congress is new and will welcome making their mark with a huge constituency backing.
A point of interest...my patients are the founders of Sweet 'n Low. When the FDA attempted to ban saccarin it was the ladies who stormed the stores puling boxes off the shelves and demanding to have that product. It stayed on the shelves. In 1907, Teddy Roosevelt demanded to keep the investigation of the safety of saccarin by the FDA at bay because he used it. He won! The power of the people and the influencers in government is the stuff of history.

Keep up the good fight!
Nancy Gahles
There is now information on how to submit comments electronically, at this website: http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResu ... ue;ns=true
The docket is # FDA-2015-N-0540.
Comments will be accepted through June 22, as best I can read from the verbiage.
We urge all those who are unable to attend the hearings in Washington to inform themselves of the agenda, and to spread the word as widely as possible.

[Fran Sheffield]

Dear all,

My experience is that homeopathic organisations, by their very nature, tend to appease or deflect attacks and conflict - and the higher the source of those attacks, the more they readily they appease and it is to the detriment of our profession and practices - it has led to us losing ground.

Associations and organisations HAVE to be proactive in this matter and step in to protect those who speak strongly on behalf of homeopathy rather than helping to push them under the bus so that a "problem" "goes away." This approach is short-sighted and costs us dearly. It buys peace for a short time but the cost of that peace is enormous.

Medical homeopaths (I'm sorry guys and gals), cannot be go-to people for what homeopaths should and shouldn't, can and can't do UNLESS they can demonstrate they are not speaking with a conflict of interest. For most Western medical homeopaths, their first loyalty has to be to their allopathic professional body if they want to retain their registration and so they have to fall in line with association's position statements and code of practices. This has been seen repeatedly in the area of homeoprophylaxis, for instance, irrespective of what evidence is available or how many people will suffer if they use weasel-words or avoid the truth. Our professional and community associations have to speak out strongly and forcibly reject statements by medical homeopaths that weaken our practices and stop giving them defacto authority in this area (I love medical homeopaths - more power to you - but please don't act as the voice of homeopathy when there is an obvious conflict of interest - defer to the).

Finally, note the negative Australian NHMRC statement on the evidence for homeopathy is being and will continue to be used as leverage against homeopathy around the world (as it is in this US situation) so it would be wise to be familiar with the shamefully flawed process by which the investigation was conducted.
________________________________

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

The first loyalty of any practitioner should be to his/her patients, regardless of registration or legislation status. And then to freedom of choice.

Maybe a quick reminder of the Hippocratic Oath could move a few consciences, although I am not holding my breath about that happening any time soon..........

Joe.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.

"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

www.naturamedica.co.nz
________________________________

[Gisela Ahrendt]

Ok Fran - so what is your point and what do you propose as a solution (remedy)
Gisela
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2015 09:17:50 +1100
Subject: Re: [Minutus] Legislation as a danger to homeopathy-point of view
Dear all,

My experience is that homeopathic organisations, by their very nature, tend to appease or deflect attacks and conflict - and the higher the source of those attacks, the more they readily they appease and it is to the detriment of our profession and practices - it has led to us losing ground.

Associations and organisations HAVE to be proactive in this matter and step in to protect those who speak strongly on behalf of homeopathy rather than helping to push them under the bus so that a "problem" "goes away." This approach is short-sighted and costs us dearly. It buys peace for a short time but the cost of that peace is enormous.

Medical homeopaths (I'm sorry guys and gals), cannot be go-to people for what homeopaths should and shouldn't, can and can't do UNLESS they can demonstrate they are not speaking with a conflict of interest. For most Western medical homeopaths, their first loyalty has to be to their allopathic professional body if they want to retain their registration and so they have to fall in line with association's position statements and code of practices. This has been seen repeatedly in the area of homeoprophylaxis, for instance, irrespective of what evidence is available or how many people will suffer if they use weasel-words or avoid the truth. Our professional and community associations have to speak out strongly and forcibly reject statements by medical homeopaths that weaken our practices and stop giving them defacto authority in this area (I love medical homeopaths - more power to you - but please don't act as the voice of homeopathy when there is an obvious conflict of interest - defer to the).

Finally, note the negative Australian NHMRC statement on the evidence for homeopathy is being and will continue to be used as leverage against homeopathy around the world (as it is in this US situation) so it would be wise to be familiar with the shamefully flawed process by which the investigation was conducted.
________________________________

[Gisela Ahrendt]

Here we go again Dr. J we are engaging in semantics and arguments - no action plans.
That is the problem with Homeopath they will argue and argue - from what Maria says we are on the wall - lets jump to action some one please lets get a plan of action together.
Gisela
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2015 12:01:01 +1300
Subject: Re: [Minutus] Legislation as a danger to homeopathy-point of view
The first loyalty of any practitioner should be to his/her patients, regardless of registration or legislation status. And then to freedom of choice.

Maybe a quick reminder of the Hippocratic Oath could move a few consciences, although I am not holding my breath about that happening any time soon..........

Joe.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.

"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

www.naturamedica.co.nz
________________________________

[Fran Sheffield]

With current lack of confidence and vacillation by many associations, support and protection for homeopathy must come from a grassroots movement of informed and active consumers as they are the ones who will experience the greatest loss if homeopathy is restricted. This is the area in which I focus my attention and I firmly believe that the community as a whole should know how to use and prescribe basic homeopathy. I would love for it to be taught from the junior years of school - imagine how much "healthcare" would not be needed. Canada has a group that specifically represents consumers and this is a move in the right direction.

As recent examples, of what I / we do, you could help by signing a petition here: or sending a letter of support to here: Homeopathy Plus and I always advocate for homeopathy and support other practitioners where ever we can - and more is in the pipeline.

You can certainly tell associations you expect more from them - I have done so for years - but you may not see much action until they themselves are directly attacked, but by then a lot of sand is likely to have been eroded from under people's feet. Expect to provide financial support as well as many associations run on the smell of an oily rag, and sometimes by junior but unseasoned homeopaths without an established clinic yet who still have time and enthusiasm to spend on unpaid work.

Be aware that working on an association committee, away from the rub of membership thoughts and preferences, can be seductive. It gives a false sense of power and influence in which important decisions affecting the profession as a whole are made by the vote of a few. This is an ever-present danger that has to be watched. Another seductive element is that of committees, or its members, being invited into talks or onto shared committees with government regulating bodies. I have seen a process of "grooming" take place which leads to the easy adoption of the wishes of the regulating body rather than the wishes of the community or membership.

Fran.
________________________________
________________________________

[Fran Sheffield]

Too true, Joe.

Haven't they just done away with the Hippocratic Oath? Maybe they were only talking about it in Australia.

fran.
________________________________

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

The action plan in NZ is running, thank you very much; it is grass root oriented with local politicians engaged when needed.

What do you want me or someone else from the other side of the world to do for you guys when you cannot even control your own locally elected politicians. You have absolutely no idea what we do, or what Fran and the Aussie homeopaths do.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.

"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

www.naturamedica.co.nz
________________________________
________________________________

[Irene de Villiers]

I totally agree.
ALso with your point on the false methods of collecting supposed adverse event data.
Does anyone know what details can be found about this to show it invalidity anbd where?
....Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Gisela Ahrendt]

Great point Irene - can I count on you to work on this? This needs lots of people with good sense and a deep understanding of what is at stake and how Homeopathy works and not works. Plus, with what the political environment right now is we probably could make this to our advantage by going to the White House directly and forget about all the corrupt congress people.
Gisela
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2015 04:09:26 -0700
Subject: Re: [Minutus] Legislation as a danger to homeopathy-point of view
I totally agree.
ALso with your point on the false methods of collecting supposed adverse event data.
Does anyone know what details can be found about this to show it invalidity anbd where?
....Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."