NCAHF Newsletter articles from May 2000

NCAHF Newsletter archives from May 2000

WEIL'S INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE PROGRAM SAID TO BE "ON FINANCIAL ROPES".
May 1, 2000... According to a April report in the Arizona Daily Star, the program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona is running $1 million in the red and must significantly cut patients and staffing. The first to go is Dr. Andrew Weil's...

RISKS TO SURGICAL PATIENTS USING ALT-COMP MEDICINES.
May 1, 2000... Carol Norred, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), researcher and PhD candidate at the UCHSC Department of Anesthesiology and School of Nursing, recently published a study in the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA)...

NATUROTHERAPIST TOLD DIABETIC TO STOP INSULIN.
May 1, 2000... From the sad but true department: Louise Lortie, a "naturotherapist," was sentenced by a judge in Hull, Quebec to three years in prison for the death of a 12-year-old diabetic girl. The judge found Lortie guilty of criminal neglect after she...

CHILD DIES UNDERGOING "REBIRTHING THERAPY".
May 1, 2000... A 10-year-old girl suffocated during a "rebirthing" process. Candace Newmaker of North Carolina, was wrapped tightly in a blanket and pillows to simulate a womb. Therapists would push on the "womb" to simulate uterine contractions. Candace, an...

NORTH AMERICAN GINSENG LOSING POPULARITY.
May 1, 2000... Chai-Na-Ta Corp, the world's largest producer of North American ginseng, filed for creditors' protection under the federal Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in the British Columbia Supreme Court. It seems the market prices for North American...

LINK BETWEEN FAITH & HEALING.
May 1, 2000... Does deep religious faith help the healing process? A number of recent studies seem to point in that direction. This seems especially true with the increasing popularity of fundamentalist Christianity, New Age beliefs, and alternative medicine....

COMP HEALTHCARE GOING MAINSTREAM.
May 1, 2000... Late last year, Blue Cross started Natural Blue-Holistic Health Choices. The company signed an agreement with American Specialty Health Networks (ASHN). The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina's customers can now access this...

NEVADA HOMEOPATHS SCRAP RETRY AT EXPANDING SCOPE OF PRACTICE.
May 1, 2000... Another short chapter has been written in the saga of one state's flirtation and struggle with quackery. First, some background information. In 1983, the influence of a powerful state political leader led to the establishment of a Homeopathic...

CHIROPRACTIC CLINICS RAIDED.
May 1, 2000... Officers looking for information on past patient accounts seized 9 computers from the Sacramento billing office of the chiropractic offices of a chain known previously as the California Back & Neck Pain Specialists. Charges include false...

ACUPUNCTURE ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EVENTS.
May 1, 2000... Sometimes it may work, and it seems harmless enough, so why not try acupuncture for what ails you. While admitting that the procedure is usually harmless, researchers Vickers and Zollman, found that, when a systemic infection does occur, it can...

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF BOTANICAL PREPARATIONS.
May 1, 2000... The passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) stimulated 5 years of unprecedented growth of the herbal and nutritional supplement industry. While it seems growth is slowing, US consumers are using increasing...

CIGNA CENSORED SMOKING INFORMATION IN EMPLOYEES HEALTH NEWSLETTER.
May 1, 2000... Minneapolis (AP) Feb 3, 2000. Why would Cigna, one of the nation's largest health insurers, eliminate negative references to smoking? Why, to protect employees from offensive information, of course. This was done in a newsletter for the...

HUMANA TO SETTLE ALLEGED DECEPTION FOR $800,000.
May 1, 2000... Here's one for the citizens of Florida. Due to deceptive practices Humana Health Plan Inc. will refund a total of $800,000 to about 2,100 Florida Medicare beneficiaries. It seems they were allegedly enticed to join the plan with a deceptive...

RESEARCHERS FIND LESS GRAY MATTER IN SOCIOPATHS.
May 1, 2000... According to a report in Archives of General Psychiatry researchers have found the first evidence that people suffering from antisocial personality disorder (APD) have less gray matter in the front part of their brains than healthy people. Gray...

MAN TRIED FOR MURDER WHEN `CURES' WENT WRONG.
May 1, 2000... Portugal's Lusa news agency reported that Manuel Dinis Pimentel, a Portuguese man, went on trial in Portugal's Azores Islands charged with murdering eight people. The prosecutors said the eight had died over a two week period, in summer 1998,...

CONGRESS OKAYS HALF-TRUTHS (LIES) AS HEALTH CLAIMS.
May 1, 2000... There is no such thing as a "half-truth." Something is either true or untrue. Granted, the term "misleading" is used for the clever lies hucksters use to label and advertise their wares, but such are ultimately judged to be false. Your and my...

ONTARIO CORONERS TO TRACK ALT MED CASES.
May 1, 2000... A stunning series of Toronto Star stories on the dangers of alternative medicine has prompted Ontario's deputy chief coroner, Dr. Jim Cairns to take action. A computer code has been created enabling the Ontario coroner's office to catalog...

RESEARCH INTEGRITY CONFERENCE.
May 1, 2000... ORI will convene a conference on "Research on Research Integrity" Nov 18-20, 2000 in the Washington metropolitan area. The theme is "emerging challenges for the responsible conduct of research." Preferred topics are identification of research...

WEIL vs RELMAN.
May 1, 2000... The transcript of a debate between Drs. Arnold Relman, editor-emeritus of The New England Journal of Medicine and Andrew Weil, appeared in the 10/11/99 Archives of Internal Medicine. Relman defended the principles of biomedicine by saying it is...

CIGNA CENSORED SMOKING INFORMATION IN EMPLOYEES HEALTH NEWSLETTER.
May 1, 2000... Minneapolis (AP) 2/3/00. One of the nation's largest health insurers, Cigna, eliminated negative references to smoking in a Philip Morris employees' newsletter to protect readers from offensive information. The censoring was discovered as...

DIFFICULTY OF DEFINING CAM.
May 1, 2000... Complementary/Alternative medicine (CAM) is difficult to define says The British Medical Association (BMA). Primary CAM treatments are usually thought to be acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, manipulative medicine (osteopathy and...

FINDING THE LIMITS OF TOLERANCE FOR CAM.
May 1, 2000... The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is trying to cash into the lucrative CAM market following the news that Americans are spending billions of dollars for off-beat health care. UPMC chose Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona to head its Center...

THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICAN MEDICINE.
May 1, 2000... By giving Americans what they say they want rather than proper medical treatment, is American medicine following the trend set by education, politics and the mass media? We all hear the lively public debates concerning healthcare costs and the...

CSPI PETITIONS FDA ON SUPPLEMENT CLAIMS.
May 1, 2000... The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the FDA to have dietary supplements makers prove their products alleviate conditions like sleeplessness, upset stomach, or nausea before marketing. [Reuters Health, 3/31/00]