stealth ban

When I added the words, acupuncture, acupuncturist, herbalist, TCM,

traditional, chinese and medicine to my news search parameters for the

ephedra ban, not a single article mentioned any of these terms. what the

hell happened here. how did this fly in completely under our radar? I

have been paying attention and I still missed this until it was too late.

Chinese Herbs

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein

A couple of weeks ago I posted to list the Jackie Speier bill to ban all ephedra products. It is support powerfully by the Consumers Union. http://www.consumersunion.org/products/ban-ephedra303.htm

Does this ring any bells. Curt Jacquot and I were intensely lobbying for letters from members of this list to be sent to State Senator Jackie Speier. Does SB 582 ring any bells?

This link gives you the exact state of the bill at this moment.

http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/servlet/gov.ca.senate.democrats.pub.members.memDisplayBillDetail?district=sd08 & bill_number=sb_582 & sess=CUR & house=B & site=

I jumped up and down on this list asking for help. Ring any bells?

Emmanuel Segmen

-

cha

Sunday, May 25, 2003 8:09 PM

stealth ban

When I added the words, acupuncture, acupuncturist, herbalist, TCM, traditional, chinese and medicine to my news search parameters for the ephedra ban, not a single article mentioned any of these terms. what the hell happened here. how did this fly in completely under our radar? I have been paying attention and I still missed this until it was too late.

Here's my post of 5/16/03. Letters to Jackie Speier at the link below could still produce results.

Ah ... I have vested interests. ;-)

Emmanuel Segmen

"Emmanuel Segmen" <susegmen@i...> Fri May 16, 2003 3:30 pm Senator Jackie Speier ready to pull Ma Huang

Dear Friends,

Please check out this bill. I don't hear of too many people writing to Jackie Speier to present opposition or request an exception for Chinese medicine practitioners. Note that the Consumers Union is wildly in support of Jackie Speier's bill to completely ban all ma huang in CA. Please further note that the U.S. D.E.A. has mandated the appropriate use of Ephedra sinica (ma huang) as less than 5% of any given product. This flows well with ma huang use in Chinese formulas, and it's the federal legal perspective.

The link for feedback to Senator Jackie Speier is http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/servlet/gov.ca.senate.democrats.pub.members.memDisplayFeedback?district=sd08

For those who feel strongly about obtaining an except for CM practitioners, the time is short for voicing an opinion. Considering the power of the California Consumers Union, we may need to yell pretty loudly. You can voice your concerns to her at the above link. I'm wondering where AAOM can the California association are on this.

You can view the bill below. This is the current version as of today, and it's being rushed through the California senate right now.

In Service,

Emmanuel Segmen

BILL NUMBER: SB 582 AMENDEDBILL TEXTAMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2003INTRODUCED BY Senator Speier FEBRUARY 20, 2003 An act to add Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 110423.100) toChapter 4 of Part 5 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code,relating to public health. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 582, as amended, Ephedrine groupalkaloids . The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law contains variousprovisions regarding the packaging, labeling, and advertising offood, drugs, and cosmetics. Violation of any of these provisions isa crime. The act prohibits the sale of dietary supplementscontaining ephedrine group alkaloids or steroid hormone precursorsunless the product label of these products includes specifiedinformation. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for anymanufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or other person to sell,transfer, or otherwise furnish a dietary supplement containingephedrine group alkaloids or steroid hormone precursors to a personunder 18 years of age. This bill would instead prohibit the sale or distribution of anydietary supplement product containing ephedrine group alkaloids,notwithstanding specified existing law relating to the sale anddistribution of these supplements. Because the bill would create anew crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse localagencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by thestate. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making thatreimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by thisact for a specified reason. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.State-mandated local program: yes .THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 110423.100) isadded to Chapter 4 of Part 5 of Division 104 of the Health and SafetyCode, to read: Article 4.5. Ephedrine Group Alkaloids 110423.100. Notwithstanding Article 4 (commencing with Section110423), the sale or distribution of any dietary supplement productscontaining ephedrine group alkaloids is prohibited. SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant toSection 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution becausethe only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or schooldistrict will be incurred because this act creates a new crime orinfraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penaltyfor a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of theGovernment Code, or changes the definition of a crime within themeaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the CaliforniaConstitution.

Message 17128 of 17288

No, we have no voice presently as a profession. Sometimes I feel like

I'm bound and gagged in a public sense. But this is not surprising

when we realize the bulk of the media is controlled by five large

corporations, and influenced by obscene amounts of money that we don't

have.

Z'ev,

We do have a voice - and that is through the state organization the CSOMA and the national organization, the AAOM. The national organization was doing letter writing campaigns in conjunction with the Illinois State organization. Practically nothing can stop a legislator with a constituent's death, a mission and potential visibility - this one has all three.

In addition, AAOM has been active in protecting CPT codes as well as ringing the bell for signing on to the HHS efforts to study Alternative Billing Codes. If adopted, this would effectively bust the AMA monopoly on billing codes.

My question to those who claim not to have a voice is this - are you a member of both a state and national organization? Because AAOM and CSOMA are the vehicles for your voice. It is the mission of those organizations. CHA could weigh in but it is not within the mission of this group, therefore it does not have the infrastructure and policies in place to act.

I don't know how many of you are aware of the attempt to gut standards in Arkansas. There was a bill in place to set a 150 training requirement for licensure. AAOM went in and lobbied against this. It turned out this was the coup de gras resulting in failure of the attempt to gut standards with 150 hour licensing legislature. We do have a voice - it needs support to become stronger.

Will Morris

> Message: 13

> Sun, 25 May 2003 20:09:55 -0700

>

> stealth ban

>

> When I added the words, acupuncture, acupuncturist, herbalist, TCM,

> traditional, chinese and medicine to my news search parameters for the

> ephedra ban, not a single article mentioned any of these terms.

>

This is a good example of what I'm talking about when I say

we're essentially invisible as a profession. The mass media

doesn't interview us, MDs don't consult us, legislators

don't think to involve us, the public doesn't have a clue

we're here, much less an authority. Very worrisome.

--Laurie Burton

, " Emmanuel Segmen " <

susegmen@i...> wrote:

> I jumped up and down on this list asking for help. Ring any bells?

>

Actually it does not ring a bell and I wondered why. so I went back through

the list archives and found your pleas lost amongst literally hundreds of

messages about SARS (around the time the speier bill moved out of committee

on 4/9). I guess SARS overwhelmed everything else at that time. In addition,

I was moving to a new house during most of april and was not attending to the

list as closely. so my oversight. hopefully its not too late to do something.

so I

add my plea to yours.

, " Emmanuel Segmen " <

susegmen@i...> wrote:

> Here's my post of 5/16/03. Letters to Jackie Speier at the link below

could still produce results.

> Ah ... I have vested interests. ;-)

oh. your post was after the senate vote. I thought it got lost around early

april. maybe that is why I couldn't find it. I was wondering why no one heard

of this in march even before the committee vote???

No, we have no voice presently as a profession. Sometimes I feel like

I'm bound and gagged in a public sense. But this is not surprising

when we realize the bulk of the media is controlled by five large

corporations, and influenced by obscene amounts of money that we don't

have.

On Monday, May 26, 2003, at 03:59 PM, Laurie + Tony wrote:

>

>

>

>> Message: 13

>> Sun, 25 May 2003 20:09:55 -0700

>>

>> stealth ban

>>

>> When I added the words, acupuncture, acupuncturist, herbalist, TCM,

>> traditional, chinese and medicine to my news search parameters for the

>> ephedra ban, not a single article mentioned any of these terms.

>>

> This is a good example of what I'm talking about when I say

> we're essentially invisible as a profession. The mass media

> doesn't interview us, MDs don't consult us, legislators

> don't think to involve us, the public doesn't have a clue

> we're here, much less an authority. Very worrisome.

>

> --Laurie Burton

>

>

>

Greetings All,

I agree that we may not have a loud voice, but indeed we have a voice when we choose to use it. ANd this may be just the time to begin to organize and use it. This seems to be a perfect time to educate people about the use of ephedra ( the herb) and ephedra, the extract - which is an intirely different species of drug, although they are referred to as one in the same. (Funny how over 20,000 ? deaths are attributed to NSAIDS each year and no one is screaming for them to be removed from the shelves). THis might be an opportune time to educate consumers, western practitioners, etc. about chinese medicine as well as the correct use of herbs, and that maybe they should be asking the people expert in herbal usage, the questions of safety/efficacy/etc. . . . within every crisis, there is a window of opportunity. . .

All it takes is one step and someone willing to organize . . . is anyone out there who would be willing to help start this process? We need to be heard and many small voices joined, makes a very strong voice. . .

just my thoughts for this time. . .

susan froehlich, LAc

hood river, or

controlled by five large corporations, and influenced by obscene amounts of money that we don't have.>>>Which have their interests mixed in with much other commercial interests as well. Its all propaganda these days

alon

>

This is a good example of what I'm talking about when I say

we're essentially invisible as a profession. The mass media

doesn't interview us, MDs don't consult us, legislators

don't think to involve us, the public doesn't have a clue

we're here, much less an authority. Very worrisome.

--Laurie Burton

Which is why we must be proactive and remain aware of what is going

on. Sometimes it means we have to be a bit pushy and obnoxious but

we have to speak up for ourselves, get ourselves invited and get

ourselves known. This is the job of the state associations but also

of individual practitioners. The work we did in Suffolk County has

paid off - NY City City council has adopted the Suffolk County

legislation, including the exemption and the NY State Legislature is

considering it - and because the exemption was in the Suffolk bill, ASNY

was able to attend a NY Legislature roundtable on the topic and our

viewpoint was barely even contested. The Suffolk County legislator

who introduced the bill has spoken to NY Senators (Schumer and Clinton)

and also to Dick Durbin of ILL who is introducing federal legislation to

push for the exemption. He started out against us, but once he came

around he became a great ally. It just takes a few people (there

were about 5 of us who did this in Suffolk) who keep at it to make a big

difference.

Marnae

Groups Sponsor

Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed

healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate

academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of

professional services, including board approved online continuing

education.

over 20,000 ? deaths are attributed to NSAIDS

>>>Actually its a misprint its 2000-3000 per year, but other problems and costs are huge

alon

over 20,000 ? deaths are attributed to NSAIDS

>>>The other thing is what about all the prescription or over the counter types of ephedrine? I would like to know what are the associated problems from psudophed, although it is a little more heart and blood pressure safe

alon

I think this is a good example of what's wrong with a large part of our

profession. Nobody is going to come to you ask your opinion unless you

get in their faces and tell them you're the expert. The reason we are

largely invisible, is that many practitioners don't do anything to

actively push the profession forward. I did a little bit of work with

the acupuncture association of washington, and learned these lessons

first-hand. The real world is much more sink or swim, and unfortunately

a big part of the profession thinks they are treading water and don't

realize they are sinking. Read the recent comments by Will, Emmanuel,

Brian etc. to get an idea of what you can do to start swimming. I like

one of H. Ross Perot's sayings (ha!) 'do you come to me with the problem

or the solution?'

Geoff

> > stealth ban

> >

> This is a good example of what I'm talking about when I say

> we're essentially invisible as a profession. The mass media

> doesn't interview us, MDs don't consult us, legislators

> don't think to involve us, the public doesn't have a clue

> we're here, much less an authority. Very worrisome.