Health freedom
Encyclopedia
The term health freedom movement is used to describe a loose coalition of organizations, consumers, activists, alternative medicine
practitioners and producers of products around the world who are campaigning for unhindered freedom of choice in healthcare. The movement is critical of the pharmaceutical industry and medical regulators, and uses the term "health freedom" as a catch phrase
to convey its message.
The concept of health freedom does not preclude the practice of conventional medicine
, but campaigners generally tend to have strong preferences for orthomolecular, naturopathic, or alternative medicine
and an overall distrust of the pharmaceutical industry. The removal from consumers of access to healthcare products that they had formerly been able to obtain and which had helped their needs for health and survival is viewed by many people in the movement as being leveraged by multinational corporations.
A key objective in the movement is for people to have unrestricted access to vitamins, minerals
, herbals
, botanicals, amino acids and other food supplements. The dietary supplement
industry wants to see less stringent regulations than those applied to food. Campaigners believe that many chronic diseases can be largely prevented or even cured using micronutrients and that the optimal level for ingestion of these is significantly above the RDA
levels. The movement has close links to the Life-extension movement.
The movement's supporters and organizations believe that there is a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical industry to undermine the advance of the nutritional route to better health and that studies showing supplements have no effect in preventing disease are designed to fail. Some of the movement's spokespeople, such as the Alliance for Natural Health
, take a more moderate stance on this issue, saying that negative media publicity about nutrients such as vitamin E
are a result of misinterpretations over the science. These campaigners also criticise the latest research indicating that vitamin C
supplements do not protect against the common cold as having a number of fundamental flaws.
The belief that supplements and vitamins can demonstrably improve health or longevity is not backed by evidence-based medicine
, nor is it widely accepted in the medical community, because there is felt to be insufficient evidence to support such beliefs. Large doses of some vitamins can lead to vitamin poisoning
(hypervitaminosis), although deaths from vitamin poisoning are extremely rare in the US.
Other issues promoted by the movement include its opposition to the sharing of genetic information without patient consent, its belief that citizens should have greater privacy and control over their health information, its belief that people should be free to choose not to participate in a national electronic health-records system. and its opposition to fluoridation of the water supply.
Some health freedom campaigners would like adults to be free to choose marijuana for personal or medical use without criminal penalty. The money currently spent on arresting people for possessing pot, they say, could be better used to go after more serious criminals or funding alternative health-care programs.
argues in favor of deregulation of the medical profession and health care sector. Some activists are politically left-wing, whilst the Republican
congressman and 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul
, who supports health freedom, calls himself a free market libertarian. A leading supporter of the movement, Paul introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act in the U.S. Congress in 2005. Other examples of people with polar opposite political views whose healthcare ideology at times appears to bear some comparison to that of the health freedom movement include Prince Charles, who has defended alternative therapies in an address to the World Health Assembly, and Cherie Blair
(the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
) who is believed to have influenced her husband's reported opposition to the EU Food Supplements Directive. The British right wing Conservative Party
has supported the Save Our Supplements campaign as part of its campaign against the EU Food Supplements Directive, whilst the Green Party in Ireland has expressed concern that changes to this Directive will limit consumers' access to off-the-shelf vitamins and mineral supplements. The Swedish conservative Moderate Party
is also opposed to the EU imposed vitamin restrictions.
Prominent celebrity supporters of the movement include the musician Sir Paul McCartney
, who says that people "have a right to buy legitimate health food supplements" and that "this right is now clearly under threat," and the pop star/actress Billie Piper
, who joined a march in London in 2003 to protest planned EU legislation to ban high dosage vitamin supplements.
The term "Health freedom movement" has been used in the United States since the 1990s. Around 2003 to 2005, a campaign organization founded by the British author Lynne McTaggart
and called the Health Freedom Movement existed in the United Kingdom.
(FDA) to prove that a supplement poses significant or unreasonable risk of harm rather than on the manufacturer to prove the supplement’s safety. The act was passed by Congress after extensive lobbying by the manufacturers of dietary supplements, and received strong support from non-medically-oriented politicians such as Senator Tom Harkin
and Senator Orrin Hatch
, whose state of Utah is a hub for herbal manufacturers. The act allows natural supplements to be marketed without any proof of their purity, safety or efficacy. Producers of these supplements are largely exempt from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, which can take action against them only if they make medical claims about their products or if consumers of the products become seriously ill.
Following concerns about numerous raids, censorship issues, pharmaceutical conflicts of interest, product bans, and more proposed FDA restrictions, what became the DSHEA in 1994 was the subject of a lobbying campaign that produced Congressional mail equal to that generated by the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement
. The current level of popular support for the deregulation of the supplement industry can at times seem unclear. A large survey by the AARP
, for example, found that 77% of respondents (including both users and non-users of supplements) believed that the federal government should review the safety of dietary supplements and approve them before they can be marketed to consumers.
Similar confusion about the implications of DSHEA was found in an October 2002 nationwide Harris poll. Here, 59% of respondents believed that supplements had to be approved by a government agency before they could be marketed; 68% believed that supplements had to list potential side effects on their labels; and 55% believed that supplement labels could not make claims of safety without scientific evidence. All of these beliefs are incorrect as a result of provisions of the DSHEA.
President Bill Clinton
, on signing DSHEA into law, stated that "After several years of intense efforts, manufacturers, experts in nutrition, and legislators, acting in a conscientious alliance with consumers at the grassroots level, have moved successfully to bring common sense to the treatment of dietary supplements under regulation and law." He also stated that the passage of DSHEA "speaks to the diligence with which an unofficial army of nutritionally conscious people worked democratically to change the laws in an area deeply important to them" and that "In an era of greater consciousness among people about the impact of what they eat on how they live, indeed, how long they live, it is appropriate that we have finally reformed the way Government treats consumers and these supplements in a way that encourages good health."
Another example of the passing of pro-health freedom legislation occurred in March 2007, when Governor Timothy M. Kaine signed a bill into law in the U.S. State of Virginia allowing teenagers 14 or older and their parents the right to refuse medical treatments for ailments such as cancer, and to seek alternative treatments so long as they have considered all other medical options. Kaine described the bill as being "significant for health freedom in Virginia."
In addition, some U.S. states have proven willing to allow nonlicensed practitioners to diagnose and treat patients, and forms of nonlicensed practice have been approved in California, Rhode Island, Idaho, Louisiana and Oklahoma. As a result, between 2000 and 2006, 15 percent of the U.S. population gained some access to nonlicensed practitioners.
In early 2010, two U.S. states, Tennessee and Idaho, passed health freedom legislation that would result in legal challenges if the U.S. Congress passes federal health-care reforms that require their residents to buy health insurance.
(EU) laws such as the Food Supplements Directive, the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, and the Human Medicinal Products (Pharmaceuticals) Directive, will reduce their access to food supplements and herbal medicines. European health food producers, retailers and consumers have been vocal in protesting against this legislation, with the health freedom movement inviting supporters to "Stop Brussels from killing natural medicine". On the day that Members of the European Parliament voted for a clampdown on vitamin sales, the parliament's computer system crashed under the strain of thousands of speed-dial emails, wildly claiming that the new directive would ban 300 popular supplements and drive British health stores out of business. In Strasbourg, meanwhile, Euro-MPs were accosted by activists handing out a propaganda video accusing five European commissioners of corruptly colluding with big pharmaceutical firms in an attempt to destroy the alternative network of homoeopathic and natural medicines.
In 2004, the Alliance for Natural Health
(ANH) and two British trade associations had a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive referred to the European Court of Justice
by the High Court in London. The European Court of Justice's Advocate General subsequently said that the EU's plan to tighten rules on the sale of vitamins and food supplements should be scrapped, but was overruled by the European Court, which decided that the measures in question were necessary and appropriate for the purpose of protecting public health
. ANH interpreted the ban as applying only to synthetically produced supplements - and not to vitamins and minerals normally found in or consumed as part of the diet. Nevertheless, the European judges did acknowledge the Advocate General's concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow substances to be added to the permitted list based on scientific evidence. They also said that any refusal to add a product to the list must be open to challenge in the courts. Some media observers believe that, as a result of this legislation, a black market will emerge, and that controls over ingredients and quality will vanish.
, health freedom campaigners have been concerned that many supplements would be removed from the shelves under the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill that was introduced to the NZ Parliament in 2006 by Food Safety Minister Annette King
. If passed, the Bill would have created a joint agency with Australia
to regulate therapeutic products. In July 2007, King announced that the Bill would be postponed until there was more support in the New Zealand parliament for the scheme. She subsequently passed responsibility for the issue to New Zealand Health Minister Pete Hodgson
, who said that "the status quo of an unregulated market for medical devices and complementary medicines cannot remain". It is understood that officials are now planning to look at using ministerial powers to create domestic regulations to apply to such products sold in New Zealand.
More recently, in response to thousands of dollars worth of stock being confiscated by the regulatory body MedSafe, natural health practices in New Zealand have banded together under the Health Freedom banner to protest against what they claim is a Medsafe "witch hunt", arguing that the crackdown is a response to the stalling of the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill. Subsequently, a petition was presented to New Zealand MPs calling for Medsafe to stop harassing natural health manufacturers and practitioners. The health freedom campaigners who organised the petition say that 7000 signatures were gathered over a three-week period.
Following the Australian Federal Government's decision to pay a record $A50 million (NZ$62.3 million) compensation to Jim Selim, the founder of complementary medicine manufacturer, Pan Pharmaceuticals, as a result of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration(TGA) recalling all of Pan's products in 2003, Health Freedom spokeswoman Nicola Grace said that a class action suit against the TGA involving some 100 businesses that closed because of the recall was likely to ensue and that "the ticket may just include Minister Annette King".
believes that the pharmaceutical industry has a vested interest in the continuation and expansion of diseases, rather than their cure, in that without the current widespread existence of diseases the industry would cease to exist in its current form.
In addition to criticising the pharmaceutical industry, the health freedom movement is also critical of the actions of individual pharmaceutical companies. As reported in the British Medical Journal
, for example, health freedom organisations have condemned Merck & Co.
’s marketing methods, claiming the company hopes to use profits from Gardasil
to fund the litigation costs it has had to pay over rofecoxib
(Vioxx). Health freedom-orientated campaigners in the UK, meanwhile, have publicly criticised Boots, Britain's largest chemist, for "watering down" its vitamin and mineral supplements to ensure that its products complied with the European Union's Food Supplements Directive.
Commission, which it perceives to be acting in the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
The Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements were adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as a voluntary standard at its meeting in Rome in July 2005. The scope of the guidelines includes requirements for the packaging and labelling of vitamin and mineral supplements. The text also specifies that "supplements should contain vitamins/provitamins and minerals whose nutritional value for human beings has been proven by scientific data and whose status as vitamins and minerals is recognised by FAO and WHO." In addition, it states that the "sources of vitamins and minerals may be either natural or synthetic" and that "their selection should be based on considerations such as safety and bioavailability." The National Health Federation
, by virtue of its official observer status at Codex, was the only delegation present at the meeting to oppose the adoption. Drafted using the EU Food Supplements Directive as a blueprint, health-freedom orientated protagonists argue that the eventual effect of these Guidelines will be to remove large numbers of what they regard as the most effective forms of nutrients from the global market, set restrictive upper limits on the dosages of all permitted nutrients, and prevent the sale of all supplements for curative, preventative or therapeutic purposes without a doctor’s prescription.
For its part, the Commission asserts that products listed on the Codex have been accepted by the signatories as proven to be safe and thus that there is no case for any member state of the WTO to deny importation on safety grounds. Conversely, member states may refuse entry to products that have not achieved a listing on the Codex, without breaking their free trade agreemnents made under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
The United Nations
' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have stated that the guidelines are "to stop consumers overdosing on vitamin and mineral food supplements." The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has said that the guidelines call "for labelling that contains information on maximum consumption levels of vitamin and mineral food supplements." The WHO has also said that the Guidelines "ensure that consumers receive beneficial health effects from vitamins and minerals."
The health freedom movement is concerned about similarities between the EU's Food Supplements Directive and the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.
practitioners, producers of products, bloggers and newsfeeds.
USA and the Americas
The Institute for Health Freedom
(IHF) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. It monitors and reports on national policies that affect citizens' freedom to choose their health-care treatments and providers, and to maintain their health privacy. The president of the IHF is Sue A. Blevins.
The Life Extension Foundation
(LEF) is a non-profit research-based organization headquartered in Fort Lauderdale
, Florida
. Established in 1980 by co-founders Saul Kent and William Faloon, its primary purpose is to fund research and disseminate information on anti-aging and optimal health.
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
is a non-profit alternative medicine organization headquartered in Chicago
. It promotes the ideas of "anti-aging medicine" and health freedom.
The National Health Federation
(NHF) is an international non-profit organization
which describes its mission as protecting individuals' rights to use dietary supplement
s and alternative therapies
without government restriction. The NHF also opposes interventions such as water fluoridation
and childhood vaccine
s. The Federation has official observer status at meetings of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission, the highest international body on food standards. Based in California
, the Federation's board members include medical doctors, scientists, therapists and consumer advocates of natural health.
Europe
The Alliance for Natural Health
(ANH) is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom
. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive. The ANH lobbies against regulation of dietary supplement
s and in favor of alternative medical approaches
such as homeopathy
, and also advocates a healthy diet, exercise, and other lifestyle approaches to health. The Alliance also criticizes scientific research showing that megadoses of vitamins lack any health benefit.
The Dr. Rath Health Foundation was founded by a German doctor, Matthias Rath
. The foundation is financed by the profits from a supplement manufacturer owned by Dr Rath.
Individual campaigners
The health freedom movement also includes a number of individual campaigners, newsfeeds, opinion makers and talk radio stations. Examples include Gary Null
, Dr Joseph Mercola
, Joyce Riley's talk radio show The Power Hour and Kevin Trudeau
.
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
practitioners and producers of products around the world who are campaigning for unhindered freedom of choice in healthcare. The movement is critical of the pharmaceutical industry and medical regulators, and uses the term "health freedom" as a catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
to convey its message.
Structure, ideology and objectives
There is no formal structure to the health freedom movement, but cooperation and coordination among some of the various organizations and individuals involved in it does occur. Collaborative efforts in the movement are often spontaneous and its leaders have found that these can act as a test to see to see whether or not community members can work together for a common goal. At other times, organizations and individuals opt for “going it alone” to preserve autonomy, renown, or a competitive edge on issues or fundraising efforts.The concept of health freedom does not preclude the practice of conventional medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, but campaigners generally tend to have strong preferences for orthomolecular, naturopathic, or alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
and an overall distrust of the pharmaceutical industry. The removal from consumers of access to healthcare products that they had formerly been able to obtain and which had helped their needs for health and survival is viewed by many people in the movement as being leveraged by multinational corporations.
A key objective in the movement is for people to have unrestricted access to vitamins, minerals
Dietary mineral
Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. Examples of mineral elements include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, and iodine...
, herbals
Herbalism
Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...
, botanicals, amino acids and other food supplements. The dietary supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
industry wants to see less stringent regulations than those applied to food. Campaigners believe that many chronic diseases can be largely prevented or even cured using micronutrients and that the optimal level for ingestion of these is significantly above the RDA
Dietary Reference Intake
The Dietary Reference Intake is a system of nutrition recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The DRI system is used by both the United States and Canada and is intended for the general public and health professionals...
levels. The movement has close links to the Life-extension movement.
The movement's supporters and organizations believe that there is a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical industry to undermine the advance of the nutritional route to better health and that studies showing supplements have no effect in preventing disease are designed to fail. Some of the movement's spokespeople, such as the Alliance for Natural Health
Alliance for Natural Health
The Alliance for Natural Health is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive...
, take a more moderate stance on this issue, saying that negative media publicity about nutrients such as vitamin E
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is used to refer to a group of fat-soluble compounds that include both tocopherols and tocotrienols. There are many different forms of vitamin E, of which γ-tocopherol is the most common in the North American diet. γ-Tocopherol can be found in corn oil, soybean oil, margarine and dressings...
are a result of misinterpretations over the science. These campaigners also criticise the latest research indicating that vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
supplements do not protect against the common cold as having a number of fundamental flaws.
The belief that supplements and vitamins can demonstrably improve health or longevity is not backed by evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine or evidence-based practice aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to clinical decision making. It seeks to assess the strength of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments and diagnostic tests...
, nor is it widely accepted in the medical community, because there is felt to be insufficient evidence to support such beliefs. Large doses of some vitamins can lead to vitamin poisoning
Vitamin poisoning
Vitamin poisoning, hypervitaminosis or vitamin overdose refers to a condition of high storage levels of vitamins, which can lead to toxic symptoms...
(hypervitaminosis), although deaths from vitamin poisoning are extremely rare in the US.
Other issues promoted by the movement include its opposition to the sharing of genetic information without patient consent, its belief that citizens should have greater privacy and control over their health information, its belief that people should be free to choose not to participate in a national electronic health-records system. and its opposition to fluoridation of the water supply.
Some health freedom campaigners would like adults to be free to choose marijuana for personal or medical use without criminal penalty. The money currently spent on arresting people for possessing pot, they say, could be better used to go after more serious criminals or funding alternative health-care programs.
Political roots and support base
Health freedom activists come from a variety of political backgrounds. The right-wing libertarian Ludwig von Mises InstituteLudwig von Mises Institute
The Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
argues in favor of deregulation of the medical profession and health care sector. Some activists are politically left-wing, whilst the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
congressman and 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, who supports health freedom, calls himself a free market libertarian. A leading supporter of the movement, Paul introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act in the U.S. Congress in 2005. Other examples of people with polar opposite political views whose healthcare ideology at times appears to bear some comparison to that of the health freedom movement include Prince Charles, who has defended alternative therapies in an address to the World Health Assembly, and Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
(the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
) who is believed to have influenced her husband's reported opposition to the EU Food Supplements Directive. The British right wing Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
has supported the Save Our Supplements campaign as part of its campaign against the EU Food Supplements Directive, whilst the Green Party in Ireland has expressed concern that changes to this Directive will limit consumers' access to off-the-shelf vitamins and mineral supplements. The Swedish conservative Moderate Party
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
is also opposed to the EU imposed vitamin restrictions.
Prominent celebrity supporters of the movement include the musician Sir Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, who says that people "have a right to buy legitimate health food supplements" and that "this right is now clearly under threat," and the pop star/actress Billie Piper
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine...
, who joined a march in London in 2003 to protest planned EU legislation to ban high dosage vitamin supplements.
The term "Health freedom movement" has been used in the United States since the 1990s. Around 2003 to 2005, a campaign organization founded by the British author Lynne McTaggart
Lynne McTaggart
Lynne McTaggart is an American journalist, author, publisher, lecturer, and spokesperson. According to her author profile, she is a spokesperson "on consciousness, the new physics, and the practices of conventional and alternative medicine"...
and called the Health Freedom Movement existed in the United Kingdom.
United States
The enactment into law of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in the United States (US) in 1994 is an example of a piece of pro-health-freedom legislation. DSHEA defines supplements as foods, and puts the onus on the United States Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) to prove that a supplement poses significant or unreasonable risk of harm rather than on the manufacturer to prove the supplement’s safety. The act was passed by Congress after extensive lobbying by the manufacturers of dietary supplements, and received strong support from non-medically-oriented politicians such as Senator Tom Harkin
Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin is the junior United States Senator from Iowa and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives ....
and Senator Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
, whose state of Utah is a hub for herbal manufacturers. The act allows natural supplements to be marketed without any proof of their purity, safety or efficacy. Producers of these supplements are largely exempt from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, which can take action against them only if they make medical claims about their products or if consumers of the products become seriously ill.
Following concerns about numerous raids, censorship issues, pharmaceutical conflicts of interest, product bans, and more proposed FDA restrictions, what became the DSHEA in 1994 was the subject of a lobbying campaign that produced Congressional mail equal to that generated by the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
. The current level of popular support for the deregulation of the supplement industry can at times seem unclear. A large survey by the AARP
AARP
AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is the United States-based non-governmental organization and interest group, founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus, PhD, a retired educator from California, and based in Washington, D.C. According to its mission statement, it is "a...
, for example, found that 77% of respondents (including both users and non-users of supplements) believed that the federal government should review the safety of dietary supplements and approve them before they can be marketed to consumers.
Similar confusion about the implications of DSHEA was found in an October 2002 nationwide Harris poll. Here, 59% of respondents believed that supplements had to be approved by a government agency before they could be marketed; 68% believed that supplements had to list potential side effects on their labels; and 55% believed that supplement labels could not make claims of safety without scientific evidence. All of these beliefs are incorrect as a result of provisions of the DSHEA.
President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, on signing DSHEA into law, stated that "After several years of intense efforts, manufacturers, experts in nutrition, and legislators, acting in a conscientious alliance with consumers at the grassroots level, have moved successfully to bring common sense to the treatment of dietary supplements under regulation and law." He also stated that the passage of DSHEA "speaks to the diligence with which an unofficial army of nutritionally conscious people worked democratically to change the laws in an area deeply important to them" and that "In an era of greater consciousness among people about the impact of what they eat on how they live, indeed, how long they live, it is appropriate that we have finally reformed the way Government treats consumers and these supplements in a way that encourages good health."
Another example of the passing of pro-health freedom legislation occurred in March 2007, when Governor Timothy M. Kaine signed a bill into law in the U.S. State of Virginia allowing teenagers 14 or older and their parents the right to refuse medical treatments for ailments such as cancer, and to seek alternative treatments so long as they have considered all other medical options. Kaine described the bill as being "significant for health freedom in Virginia."
In addition, some U.S. states have proven willing to allow nonlicensed practitioners to diagnose and treat patients, and forms of nonlicensed practice have been approved in California, Rhode Island, Idaho, Louisiana and Oklahoma. As a result, between 2000 and 2006, 15 percent of the U.S. population gained some access to nonlicensed practitioners.
In early 2010, two U.S. states, Tennessee and Idaho, passed health freedom legislation that would result in legal challenges if the U.S. Congress passes federal health-care reforms that require their residents to buy health insurance.
Europe
In Europe, health freedom movement writers and campaigners believe that European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) laws such as the Food Supplements Directive, the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, and the Human Medicinal Products (Pharmaceuticals) Directive, will reduce their access to food supplements and herbal medicines. European health food producers, retailers and consumers have been vocal in protesting against this legislation, with the health freedom movement inviting supporters to "Stop Brussels from killing natural medicine". On the day that Members of the European Parliament voted for a clampdown on vitamin sales, the parliament's computer system crashed under the strain of thousands of speed-dial emails, wildly claiming that the new directive would ban 300 popular supplements and drive British health stores out of business. In Strasbourg, meanwhile, Euro-MPs were accosted by activists handing out a propaganda video accusing five European commissioners of corruptly colluding with big pharmaceutical firms in an attempt to destroy the alternative network of homoeopathic and natural medicines.
In 2004, the Alliance for Natural Health
Alliance for Natural Health
The Alliance for Natural Health is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive...
(ANH) and two British trade associations had a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive referred to the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
by the High Court in London. The European Court of Justice's Advocate General subsequently said that the EU's plan to tighten rules on the sale of vitamins and food supplements should be scrapped, but was overruled by the European Court, which decided that the measures in question were necessary and appropriate for the purpose of protecting public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
. ANH interpreted the ban as applying only to synthetically produced supplements - and not to vitamins and minerals normally found in or consumed as part of the diet. Nevertheless, the European judges did acknowledge the Advocate General's concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow substances to be added to the permitted list based on scientific evidence. They also said that any refusal to add a product to the list must be open to challenge in the courts. Some media observers believe that, as a result of this legislation, a black market will emerge, and that controls over ingredients and quality will vanish.
Australia & New Zealand
In New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, health freedom campaigners have been concerned that many supplements would be removed from the shelves under the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill that was introduced to the NZ Parliament in 2006 by Food Safety Minister Annette King
Annette King
Annette Faye King is a New Zealand politician. She is the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the New Zealand. She was a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.-Early life:...
. If passed, the Bill would have created a joint agency with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to regulate therapeutic products. In July 2007, King announced that the Bill would be postponed until there was more support in the New Zealand parliament for the scheme. She subsequently passed responsibility for the issue to New Zealand Health Minister Pete Hodgson
Pete Hodgson
Peter Colin Hodgson is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party.Hodgson was born in Whangarei, and received a Bachelor's degree in veterinary science from Massey University...
, who said that "the status quo of an unregulated market for medical devices and complementary medicines cannot remain". It is understood that officials are now planning to look at using ministerial powers to create domestic regulations to apply to such products sold in New Zealand.
More recently, in response to thousands of dollars worth of stock being confiscated by the regulatory body MedSafe, natural health practices in New Zealand have banded together under the Health Freedom banner to protest against what they claim is a Medsafe "witch hunt", arguing that the crackdown is a response to the stalling of the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill. Subsequently, a petition was presented to New Zealand MPs calling for Medsafe to stop harassing natural health manufacturers and practitioners. The health freedom campaigners who organised the petition say that 7000 signatures were gathered over a three-week period.
Following the Australian Federal Government's decision to pay a record $A50 million (NZ$62.3 million) compensation to Jim Selim, the founder of complementary medicine manufacturer, Pan Pharmaceuticals, as a result of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration(TGA) recalling all of Pan's products in 2003, Health Freedom spokeswoman Nicola Grace said that a class action suit against the TGA involving some 100 businesses that closed because of the recall was likely to ensue and that "the ticket may just include Minister Annette King".
Criticism of the pharmaceutical industry
Health freedom-orientated writers and campaigners tend to see restrictive legislation on supplements as being designed to protect the interests of the pharmaceutical industry. If herbal medicines and supplements are removed from sale, they argue, patients will have no alternative but to use conventional pharmaceutical medicines. Matthias RathMatthias Rath
Matthias Rath is a doctor, businessman, and vitamin entrepreneur. He earned his MD degree in Germany. Rath claims that a program of nutritional supplements , including formulations that he sells, can treat or cure diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS...
believes that the pharmaceutical industry has a vested interest in the continuation and expansion of diseases, rather than their cure, in that without the current widespread existence of diseases the industry would cease to exist in its current form.
In addition to criticising the pharmaceutical industry, the health freedom movement is also critical of the actions of individual pharmaceutical companies. As reported in the British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
, for example, health freedom organisations have condemned Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
’s marketing methods, claiming the company hopes to use profits from Gardasil
Gardasil
Gardasil , also known as Gardisil or Silgard, is a vaccine for use in the prevention of certain types of human papillomavirus , specifically HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. HPV types 16 and 18 cause an estimated 70% of cervical cancers, and are responsible for most HPV-induced anal, vulvar, vaginal,...
to fund the litigation costs it has had to pay over rofecoxib
Rofecoxib
Rofecoxib is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that has now been withdrawn over safety concerns. It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, acute pain conditions, and dysmenorrhoea...
(Vioxx). Health freedom-orientated campaigners in the UK, meanwhile, have publicly criticised Boots, Britain's largest chemist, for "watering down" its vitamin and mineral supplements to ensure that its products complied with the European Union's Food Supplements Directive.
Criticism of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
A key focus of the health-freedom movement in recent years has been the activities of the Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius
The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...
Commission, which it perceives to be acting in the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
The Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements were adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as a voluntary standard at its meeting in Rome in July 2005. The scope of the guidelines includes requirements for the packaging and labelling of vitamin and mineral supplements. The text also specifies that "supplements should contain vitamins/provitamins and minerals whose nutritional value for human beings has been proven by scientific data and whose status as vitamins and minerals is recognised by FAO and WHO." In addition, it states that the "sources of vitamins and minerals may be either natural or synthetic" and that "their selection should be based on considerations such as safety and bioavailability." The National Health Federation
National Health Federation
The National Health Federation is an international health freedom non-profit organization which describes its mission as protecting individuals' rights to use dietary supplements and alternative therapies without government restriction. The NHF also opposes public health measures such as water...
, by virtue of its official observer status at Codex, was the only delegation present at the meeting to oppose the adoption. Drafted using the EU Food Supplements Directive as a blueprint, health-freedom orientated protagonists argue that the eventual effect of these Guidelines will be to remove large numbers of what they regard as the most effective forms of nutrients from the global market, set restrictive upper limits on the dosages of all permitted nutrients, and prevent the sale of all supplements for curative, preventative or therapeutic purposes without a doctor’s prescription.
For its part, the Commission asserts that products listed on the Codex have been accepted by the signatories as proven to be safe and thus that there is no case for any member state of the WTO to deny importation on safety grounds. Conversely, member states may refuse entry to products that have not achieved a listing on the Codex, without breaking their free trade agreemnents made under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have stated that the guidelines are "to stop consumers overdosing on vitamin and mineral food supplements." The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has said that the guidelines call "for labelling that contains information on maximum consumption levels of vitamin and mineral food supplements." The WHO has also said that the Guidelines "ensure that consumers receive beneficial health effects from vitamins and minerals."
The health freedom movement is concerned about similarities between the EU's Food Supplements Directive and the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.
Criticism of regional trade blocs
A number of health-freedom organizations and their political supporters believe that the increasing tendency for countries to form free trade areas and trade blocs threatens their freedom of choice in healthcare, on the grounds that they believe these further increase the pressure upon countries to harmonize their food and supplement laws to the voluntary reference standard set by Codex. Campaigners argue that such trade agreements are about business and money and are put before the welfare of countries. Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul has said that the Central American Free Trade Agreement "increases the possibility that Codex regulations will be imposed on the American public."Organizations and campaigners
The core of the health freedom movement consists of a loose coalition of organizations, consumers, activists, alternative medicineAlternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
practitioners, producers of products, bloggers and newsfeeds.
USA and the Americas
The Institute for Health Freedom
Institute for Health Freedom
The Institute for Health Freedom was a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. It monitored and reported on national policies that were perceived as affecting citizens' freedom to choose health-care treatments and providers, and sought to bolster health privacy. The president of the IHF was...
(IHF) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. It monitors and reports on national policies that affect citizens' freedom to choose their health-care treatments and providers, and to maintain their health privacy. The president of the IHF is Sue A. Blevins.
The Life Extension Foundation
Life Extension Foundation
The Life Extension Foundation is a non-profit research-based foundation headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, established by co-founders Saul Kent and William Faloon in 1980...
(LEF) is a non-profit research-based organization headquartered in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Established in 1980 by co-founders Saul Kent and William Faloon, its primary purpose is to fund research and disseminate information on anti-aging and optimal health.
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine is a United States registered 501 nonprofit organization that promotes the field of anti-aging medicine and trains and certifies physicians in this specialty. As of 2011, approximately 26,000 practitioners had been given certificates...
is a non-profit alternative medicine organization headquartered in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. It promotes the ideas of "anti-aging medicine" and health freedom.
The National Health Federation
National Health Federation
The National Health Federation is an international health freedom non-profit organization which describes its mission as protecting individuals' rights to use dietary supplements and alternative therapies without government restriction. The NHF also opposes public health measures such as water...
(NHF) is an international non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
which describes its mission as protecting individuals' rights to use dietary supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
s and alternative therapies
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
without government restriction. The NHF also opposes interventions such as water fluoridation
Water fluoridation
Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding fluoride...
and childhood vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s. The Federation has official observer status at meetings of the Codex Alimentarius
Codex Alimentarius
The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...
Commission, the highest international body on food standards. Based in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the Federation's board members include medical doctors, scientists, therapists and consumer advocates of natural health.
Europe
The Alliance for Natural Health
Alliance for Natural Health
The Alliance for Natural Health is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive...
(ANH) is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive. The ANH lobbies against regulation of dietary supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
s and in favor of alternative medical approaches
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
such as homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
, and also advocates a healthy diet, exercise, and other lifestyle approaches to health. The Alliance also criticizes scientific research showing that megadoses of vitamins lack any health benefit.
The Dr. Rath Health Foundation was founded by a German doctor, Matthias Rath
Matthias Rath
Matthias Rath is a doctor, businessman, and vitamin entrepreneur. He earned his MD degree in Germany. Rath claims that a program of nutritional supplements , including formulations that he sells, can treat or cure diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS...
. The foundation is financed by the profits from a supplement manufacturer owned by Dr Rath.
Individual campaigners
The health freedom movement also includes a number of individual campaigners, newsfeeds, opinion makers and talk radio stations. Examples include Gary Null
Gary Null
Gary Michael Null is an American talk radio host and author on alternative and complementary medicine and nutrition. On his talk radio show and in his books and self-produced movies, Null has criticized the medical community, promoted a range of alternative cancer treatments and dietary...
, Dr Joseph Mercola
Joseph Mercola
Joseph M. Mercola is a controversial physician, health activist, and entrepreneur practicing in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. He is the author of several books including The No-Grain Diet , and The Great Bird Flu Hoax...
, Joyce Riley's talk radio show The Power Hour and Kevin Trudeau
Kevin Trudeau
Kevin Mark Trudeau is an American author, radio personality, and infomercial salesman best known for promoting alternative medicine. A number of his television infomercials and several of his books, including Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, allege that both the U.S...
.
Health freedom films
The film medium has also been used to convey the message of the health freedom movement to a broader audience. The two documentaries "We Become Silent" and "Prescription For Disaster" are produced by core activists in the movement; the other films convey messages that are similar to the positions held by the movement but are produced by people who don’t identify themselves directly with it.Documentary
- We Become Silent: A film by Kevin P. Miller
- Prescription For Disaster: A film by Gary NullGary NullGary Michael Null is an American talk radio host and author on alternative and complementary medicine and nutrition. On his talk radio show and in his books and self-produced movies, Null has criticized the medical community, promoted a range of alternative cancer treatments and dietary...
, winner of: Best Documentary Feature, at the Red Bank International Film Festival 2006 - Money Talks: Profits before Patient Safety from 2006. A documentary made by the same team that made the feature film Side Effects.
Feature films
- Side EffectsSide Effects (film)Side Effects is a romantic comedy about the pharmaceutical industry starring Katherine Heigl as Karly Hert, a pharmaceutical "detailer", who becomes disillusioned with the lack of ethics in the pharmaceutical industry and has tough choices to make. Also starring Lucian McAfee, Dorian DeMichele,...
from 2005, directed by Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau. A satire about a woman making a career in the US pharmaceutical industry.
See also
- Codex AlimentariusCodex AlimentariusThe Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...
- Megavitamin therapyMegavitamin therapyMegavitamin therapy is the use of large doses of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance in the attempt to prevent or treat diseases...
- Naturopathic MedicineNaturopathic medicineNaturopathy, or Naturopathic Medicine, is a form of alternative medicine based on a belief in vitalism, which posits that a special energy called vital energy or vital force guides bodily processes such as metabolism, reproduction, growth, and adaptation...
- Orthomolecular medicineOrthomolecular medicineOrthomolecular medicine is a form of complementary and alternative medicine that seeks to maintain health and prevent or treat diseases by optimizing nutritional intake and/or prescribing supplements...
External links
- A Bibliographic History of the Health Freedom Movement by Martin J. Walker.
- Institute for Health Freedom Washington-based "think tank."
- United States Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994
- European Union Food Supplements Directive, 2002
- Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements, 2005
- "Health Freedom", from QuackwatchQuackwatchQuackwatch is an American non-profit organization founded by Stephen Barrett with the stated aim being to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and with a primary focus on providing "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere."...
.