As you know, we built HSI with the primary goal of helping you take control of your own health. We do not support the government’s growing involvement in doling out health care, the approvals-for-sale agenda of the FDA, or the use of our tax dollars so NIH can recommend that more of us go on cholesterol-lowering drugs.
However, since the government continues to increase its own power in the health care area, we were at least pleased to see that some of that time and energy – and funding – was finally acknowledging America’s growing interest and support of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (WHCCAMP) was established by executive order of former President Clinton in March of 2000. According to the commission, its mission is “to develop legislative and administrative policy recommendations that will maximize the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine practices and products for the general public.”
Mainstream tries to save us – from ourselves
Yet, predictably, the very existence of the WHCCAMP seems to have gotten some in the medical mainstream up in arms.
A group of health care professionals sent a letter to U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher in September. The letter urges Dr. Satcher to disband the WHCCAMP. In the letter, they complain:
“Manymedical practiceshave repeatedly been shown to be ineffective in controlled studies by independent investigators. Still othermedical practices have the potential to cause physical harm”
“As a consequence, many of these practices subject the American people to considerable physical, financial, and emotional risk.”
“Moreover, the[practitioners of these medical practices]have a longstanding personal (and in some cases, financial) commitment to the continued viability of[these] practices.”
Of course, you and I know we could make the identical statements about surgery and prescription drugs. But these hypocritical arguments are just the beginning – the letter goes on to attack individual members of the commission, question the commission’s integrity as a whole, and make incendiary statements about alternative approaches. All in all, it makes for some infuriating reading for those of us who believe in the research and precepts of alternative and natural health.
Commission members read like a “Who’s Who”
Just to clarify, this is not a group of unqualified “voodoo” doctors sitting in a room pulling recommendations out of thin air.
To begin, let’s look at the members. The chair is James Gordon, M.D., a psychiatrist who graduated from Harvard Medical School. Then there are eight M.D.s, one dentist, one registered nurse with a Ph.D., one naturopathic doctor, one doctor of chiropractic, an acupuncturist, a social worker, and a representative of the health insurance industry.
As of the writing of this e-mail, the commission has held seven formal meetings and four Town Hall meetings. It’s listened to at least a thousand speakers, and sorted through twice as many comments and recommendations from the general public. Its interim progress report, submitted September 18, contains statements like, “The Commission recognizes that recommendations in the Final Report about the appropriate use of safe and effective CAM practices and products must be grounded in sound scientific and ethical principles.”
But that wasn’t sufficient to quiet the commission’s critics. Just seven days after the progress report was issued, the letter to Dr. Satcher was mailed off.
How the fox applied for the job watching the henhouse
And the letter-writers weren’t just asking Satcher to dissolve the commission – they wanted him to reform it with their own people. “We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to call for the disbanding of this commission as it presently stands and to reconstitute it with a group of respected researchers and practitionersWe would be more than happy to provide you and others with a list of suggested commission members upon request,” they write.
Who are these critics? Most of them (9) are doctors of psychology. Two are doctors of psychiatry. Only two are M.D.s, and one is a consumer advocate. (A slightly less representative group than the current panel, no?)
Most of their gripes seem to be with Dr. Gordon, who has been associated with some of the more unorthodox practices of psychiatry, including things like rebirthing. But it’s not only Gordon that they lambaste. They seem obsessed with the fact that “none of theindividuals on the White House Commission has expressed skepticism concerning the efficacy of alternative and complementary medical practices.” They repeatedly call into question the integrity of the commission members, insinuating that they’re only interested in padding their pockets with the public’s money. They call homeopathy “a bizarre medical treatment,” claim that “there has never been the slightest evidence for the existence of acupuncture meridians,” and scoff at the assertion that Traditional Chinese Medicine works as “a whole other system of medicine operating under completely different laws.”
How often do you hear conventional doctors “expressing skepticism” about the effectiveness of prescription drugs, open-heart surgery, or chemotherapy? Name a mainstream doctor who doesn’t have a long-standing personal and financial commitment to the continued viability of conventional medicine. Apparently the letter-writers don’t think the same rules apply to them.
Are there quacks out there? Of course. Just like any profession, there are members of the CAM community that aren’t above board. But that in no way makes the entire practice of CAM illegitimate. If you get cheated by a mechanic do you stop getting oil changes altogether?
CAM doesn’t need commission or government “support” to keep growing
Complementary and alternative medicine is not some fly-by-night fad that’s going to fall off the radar screen tomorrow, no matter how much some people might want it to. You and I have personally seen the benefits of these practices. We don’t need to see them proven in 10 years of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with a $250 million dollar stamp-of-approval from the FDA. We’ve felt their benefits first-hand.
More and more people are joining us and trying CAM each and every day – and liking what they find. One of the reasons is that CAM practitioners are more open-minded and willing to listen, unlike conventional doctors who disregard anything they don’t understand as bizarre and baseless.
I, for one, would be happy to see the commission disbanded. Not for the reasons stated by its critics, but because the more control the government has over health care, the less control we have over our own well being. But let’s not stop just with disbanding the commission. Let’s make sure the FDA and all the other bloated, pork-barrel government agencies go with it.
With or without this commission, CAM will continue to thrive. There are far too many people who have benefited from complementary and alternative medicine to turn back the clock now. The CAM movement is gaining momentum, and the mainstream can’t simply plug the dam.
Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.
