Sheacy Reynolds Thompson
Chief of Staff
State Representative Ken Paxton
More:
Ok, I just got off the phone with Sheacy and from what she found out, the Dept of State Health Services isn't sure either. However, she went on to say that the agency does not have funding to enforce this bill. She said it will probably go back and be amended to be clearer. The Rep who sponsored the bill is from Dallas and Sheacy thinks that it is a pretty safe bet that it is only referring to massage so that there is something on the books at a state level to get rid of the "massage parlors".
I am going to write the agency directly and ask to be kept in the loop so they know there are people that this may affect that it shouldn't. You may also want to do so.
So, as of this moment we have nothing to worry about, stressing the "at this moment"...
Got to love those politicians.
Khrymsun Elyse
PS: We might want to draft a petition to post on Care2 to get this clarified and to let them know that this might affect other modalities. I'm not sure as to how they work or how many signatures we'd need or to whom to address it; but it's something to consider.
Information about the FDA Issue from William Lee Rand
FDA Update
Dear Students of Reiki,
We’ve got a very serious situation we need to take action on right now! Please read:
At the end of April I sent out an email concerning an FDA Draft CAM Guidance document that various people and organizations had posted web pages about and had also circulated emails on the Internet. Some said that the practice of Reiki was being threatened and that we had to email the FDA to prevent them from greatly curtailing our right to practice Reiki. I indicated that among other things, based on my research, the practice of Reiki isn’t being threatened by the FDA. And while this was reassuring to most, a few seemed to be more confused. The confusion seems to be coming from the fact that there are issues in addition to the FDA Draft CAM Guidance document that don’t actually threaten the practice of Reiki but do create a serious threat to our health freedom and deserve our attention.
Since sending out the first email, I’ve had a chance to look more deeply into these issues. Because I’m on the board of directors of the National Health Freedom Coalition (NHFC), I was able to ask Diane Miller, their attorney for her help in understanding the meaning of the FDA document as well as the other related issues including the proposed S1082/H1561 Reagan-Udall Foundation legislation and Codex.
Diane confirmed that the professional practice of Reiki isn’t affected by the above issues unless a Reiki practitioner uses foods, vitamins, herbs or other dietary supplements as part of their Reiki practice. (To clarify, this means that in addition to complying with the state occupational laws for health care practitioners, if you use dietary supplement products in your practice, such as herbs, vitamins, essential oils, or minerals, they would have to be used in compliance with all state and federal product laws and without the intent to prevent, mitigate or cure a disease)
However, when considering all three of the above issues/documents together, our right to use vitamins, herbs and other food and dietary supplements is being threatened. This is a very serious situation and because of its nature and the way the information has been presented by the government and legislators, often in a confusing and/or hidden way, some readers have over reacted to the information while others have ignored it. Because of this, it’s important that we have a clear understanding of what these issues mean and that we work together to prevent the proposed restrictions on our health freedom from taking place.
Major Concern
The legislative bills S1082/H1561 sets up a non-profit corporation called the Reagan-Udall Foundation that would give the FDA a new and expanded role. It would become part of a Foundation with the purpose of implementing goals of the FDA in the area of new drug development. This means that the same organization that will be developing drug evaluation technology is also enmeshed in the agency that regulates the drug approval process, thus creating a situation that could potentially reduce the safety of the drugs and products made available to the public.
In addition and of greater concern for health freedom, the Senate added language to the bill which included food safety. The addition of amendments that include food safety, and the language of the original bill that included food and dietary supplements in the purpose of the Reagan Udall Foundation, are completely unacceptable to freedom advocates because it could mean down the road that foods, dietary ingredients and dietary supplements would be at risk of being treated like drugs when evaluated by the FDA with their new drug tools.
Foods and dietary supplements in the U.S. are not currently regulated as drugs, but are regulated as foods under DSHEA. Notably because of this, they are evaluated differently. Foods and dietary supplements are considered food nutrients and are generally regarded as safe and the evaluation of their safety is based on whether they cause a significant risk of harm as opposed to being evaluated under the toxic drug risk/benefit assessment. Risk/benefit analysis is reserved for toxic substances and the FDA approves drugs for market if the benefit justifies the risk. These foundational differences of drug and food safety assessments have recently been challenged in the Ephedra cases and because the Supreme Court has denied hearing the Ephedra case May 2007, there is a real possibility that drug assessments might be applied to foods in the future.
With a drug, a consumer has to weigh the risk/benefit ratio in choose whether they are open to the possibility of being harmed by a toxic substance, in order to receive the benefits the drug may provide. And the drug companies have to disclose side effects. But that is not the nature of food. Food is not generally toxic. Whether a food has benefit or not should always be the consumer’s decision and the government should only block a food from the market if it has shown harm. Because of the assumption that food is safe we have a wide variety of foods and supplements in the marketplace. If foods and dietary supplements were ever to be evaluated as drugs with technology developed for drugs and a risk/benefit analysis, it would no longer be up to the consumer to decide whether a food or dietary supplement were risky or beneficial to them. The FDA would be deciding that for us before the food or supplement would be allowed on the market. We then run the risk of natural products being incorrectly assessed as harmful because of a drug analysis being applied to them and losing access to many wonderful foods and nutrients that we currently use.
Foods and dietary supplements should continue to be treated as food (DSHEA) and evaluated under food standards and technology instead of with toxic drug risk/benefit assessment tools. To accomplish this, an amendment must be added to the current bill S1082/H.R.1561.
To contact your legislators and request they add this amendment
Click Here
About Codex
Codex is an organization that sets up food safety guidelines and is a joint project of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and has 182 member countries. The guidelines they create concern the shipment of food products between countries. Their purpose is to improve business between countries and is not related to improving health. Sadly, after years of deliberation, they passed Vitamin and Mineral Guidelines in 2005 that say that for products being traded between countries, maximum upper limits shall be set for vitamin and mineral amounts per daily portion of consumption as recommended by the manufacturer. This means that a vitamin or mineral might be limited to a very small dose compared with what we currently enjoy in the US. As an example, vitamin C might be available only in a 30 milligram dose rather than the 500 or 1000 milligram doses we currently have available in the US.
There are no maximum upper limits in the United States for vitamins and minerals today because of our hard won victories in Congress years ago with the passage of the DSHEA legislation. The U.S. is a member of Codex and will need to abide by the Codex guidelines when trading with other international countries but since Codex maximum upper limit guidelines are not U.S. law, they do not apply to trading inside the U.S. And health freedom advocates work hard to protect DSHEA so that the maximum upper limits restrictions never become part of the public policy of the U.S. or become U.S. law.
Read more on Codex and write your legislator
Our ability to make our own choices about which foods or dietary supplements we take and in what doses is necessary if we are to take care or our health based on our own unique requirements. If we are to maintain our freedom of choice, we need to have a clear understanding of the issues and work together in harmony to take action. I hope this email has helped you do both and that you have taken the time to email your legislators about this issue by clicking on the link above.
Sincerely in love and peace,
William Lee Rand
Please forward this email to all your friends so they can take action too!
HB 2117 is an additional Health Freedom issue. Please read this also. http://nationalhealthfreedom.org/nhfa/AlertHB2117_53107.html
And MORE About HB 2644
Colleagues and Friends of Texas Health Freedom,
Over the last couple of days, we have been receiving feedback on the numbers of people who are responding to our original health freedom alert on HB 2644. The preliminary results indicate we need to do more in the remaining days before Gov. Perry decides whether to veto this bill. I will be driving to Austin from Helotes and dropping my letter off at his office tomorrow, as well as a similar letter to my state rep. and senator at their district offices.
Please be very clear: whether you are a therapeutic touch practitioner or not, the future of this bill directly affects YOU. If this bill is enacted into law, a powerful precedent will be set for licensing EVERY currently unlicensed complementary and alternative practitioner in this state. Therefore, every unlicensed practitioner (and their clients!) in Texas has a direct interest in the future of this bill. If you have not already done so, PLEASE follow through before June 12th, as requested by our lobbyist James Jonas. Do at least the first two actions below; you may also call the Governor's hot line if you wish:
1. Contact the district offices of your state senator and representative (not members of the US Congress!). Go to http://www.texashealthfreedom.com and click on "Who's My Rep?" in the upper left corner for contact info. Call each district office and ask that your state senator and representative ask Gov. Perry to veto HB 2644. If you like, you may read the letter text below to the staffer you speak with, beginning with Please ask (your state rep. or senator) to ask Gov. Perry to veto HB 2644. Then continue with the second sentence.
2. Write a letter to Gov. Perry (preferably delivered priority mail) as follows:
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
Dear Governor Perry,
I respectfully urge you to veto HB 2644. My and my family's freedom of health care choice is as important to me as my freedom of speech. Enactment of this deeply flawed bill would forever damage my access to complementary and alternative health care in Texas. (If a practitioner, add: As a (fill in your specialty), this bill would also irreparably damage my ability to offer my services to my clients, and my ability to make a living.)
Further, I am very angry that this bill lumps reputable people (if a practitioner: me) in the same category as known lawbreakers in a misguided attempt to curb the lawbreakers' activities. The law abiding citizens of Texas (I) do not deserve such shameful treatment at the hands of this state.
Please do the right thing regarding HB 2644: veto it!
Sincerely,
(Name and address)
If you live in or near Austin, hand delivering your letter has even more impact. Gov. Perry's Capitol office address is: State Capitol, 1100 Congress, Room 2S. 1.
3. Call Gov. Perry at (800) 252-9600 (Austin area (512) 463-1782). You may read the text above if you wish.
4. Fax Gov. Perry the above at (512) 463-1849.
5. E-mail Gov. Perry the above from the web site at http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact.
This bill affects ALL of us. The Reiki community stood stalwartly beside us and supported us during the struggle with the dietitians; now is NOT the time to say "not my issue." Get this important information to ALL the people in your circle who support our effort. We are aiming for at least as many inputs on HB 2644 as we got on the dietitians' bill. Please try to get your inputs to Gov. Perrys office by June 12th; the absolute deadline is midnight June 17th. Thank you for your help!
Peter McCarthy, ND
Chair, TX Health Freedom Coalition
petermccarthy@earthlink.net
