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PITCHED BATTLE BETWEEN HEALTH FREEDOM ADVOCATES AND OPPONENTS RAGES ON SEVERAL FRONTS AS INSURANCE COMPANIES REIMBURSE FOR ALTERNATIVES by John Hammell, LEF Political Office 1534 Polk St. Hollywood, FL 33020 USA, 1-800-333-2553, FAX 954-929-0507, jhammell@ix.netcom.com, http://www.lef.org/index.html and Maury Silverman 8605 Mayfair Pl. Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-588-8387 copyright 1996 The medical establishment currently resembles a wounded bear thats been backed into a corner, and no one fighting for health freedom should get complacent at this time for the simple reason that a bear is most dangerous when enraged. Insurance reimbursement for alternative medicine, our growing string of legislative successes on both the state and federal level has shaken opponents of health freedom who are working overtime to undermine and sabotage our efforts. A Foundation ally who monitors the so called "National Council Against Health Fraud's" internet mailing list intercepted an email message from so called "quackbuster" Wallace I. Sampson on June 19th when he attempted to alert the state medical boards and other enemies of health freedom to call their Senators and Congressmen in opposition to the Access to Medical Treatment Act. On April 12th, another operative on our side penetrated the annual meeting of the Federation of State Medical Boards in Chicago and taped a workshop titled "Fraudulent Medical Practices- Watch and Be Wary." In this workshop, a number of so called quackbusters and prosecutors who specialize in attacking alternative practitioners outlined a highly detailed plan to strike back against alternative medicine in the courts, in the media, and through their contacts in government. Their actions appear to violate anti trust laws which prohibit conspiracies between private business concerns and government agencies to suppress competing business interests- but the burden to prove this in court is imposing. A transcript of the aforementioned workshop is available from the LEF website at http://www.lef.org/lef/index.html On June 17th, in anticipation of a Senate Hearing on S.1035- The Access to Medical Treatment Act, the NY Times published a real muckraking piece of yellow journalism by Gina Kolata on the front page denouncing alternative medicine and the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH. The hearing had been postponed prior to this, but they were clearly trying to rain on our parade. Kolata's rhetoric was clearly intended to depict alternative medicine in the most negative possible light. On June 18th, the NY Times published another horrendous front page attack piece by Kolata in an effort to discredit the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH and to cast doubt on the scientific soundness of the research projects of recent OAM grant recipients. In early October the World Trade Organization will meet in Bonn, Germany to vote on the draconian German Codex proposal which would restrict the international sale of dietary supplements to RDA levels, and the World Trade Organization is structured in such a way that the United States (the world's largest manufacturer of dietary supplements), won't have any more voting power than very small countries such as Togo in West Africa which doesn't even manufacture dietary supplements and has very few supplement consumers. The FDA has tentatively scheduled August 5th as the date for a public meeting to solicit public comments on the US position on this issue, however our ability to stop the German provision from going through must be fought on an international level. For updates on what to do, visit the LEF website at http://www.lef.org/lef/index.html We need people to contact members