Originally published July 31 2005
Virginia health officials consider proposal to license naturopaths
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Debate is stirring in Virginia, where officials at the state Department of Health Professions are considering a proposal to license naturopaths, but the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that some naturopaths feel licensing would just be a way of restricting what they do.
Anecdotal evidence suggests many Americans feel the way she does and are turning to alternative therapies to help prevent or manage health problems.
Consumers sometimes end up choosing such practitioners by word-of-mouth referrals from friends or from promotional materials without any real way to determine if the natural-health "experts" are indeed experts or just self-proclaimed authorities.
In Virginia, officials at the state Department of Health Professions are considering a proposal to license naturopaths, practitioners who rely on herbs, diet and nutrition and other natural methods to help people manage health problems.
The measure is supported by university-trained naturopathic experts, who say licensing is a consumer-safety issue.
But some traditional naturopaths who earned their credentials through other means view licensing as a way to restrict what they can do.
Landry was speaking on behalf of the Washington-based Coalition for Natural Health, which opposes licensing.
"Naturopathic physicians have in their scope of practice, in most states where they are licensed, the ability to do minor surgery, prescribe drugs and deliver babies," said Landry.
"Right now, you can go online and call yourself a doctor by going to a correspondence school," said naturopathic doctor Theresa Collier, also a graduate of Bastyr University, after last week's hearing.
For instance, some feel the term naturopathic doctor or naturopathic physician should be reserved for those who meet licensing or registration standards.
Instead of licensing, it would require naturopaths to disclose certain information in writing to clients, including their education and training background, their fees and the fact they are not a licensed medical doctor -- and get those clients to sign a consent form.
Hannaman-Pittman, who is licensed in Washington state as a naturopathic physician, thinks that does not go far enough.
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