The American Medical Association
Frequently our best interests are secondary to profits. The worst offenders are industries that made lots of money and use it to lobby support in the government. Many organizations that fight for the social good are trying to get their message out, but with limited funds the task is difficult. The chiropractic profession has a long history of fighting the powers that be. In 1992, after a 16 year legal battle, five chiropractors finally settled a federal antitrust suit against the American Medical Association (AMA). This original suit filed in 1976 accused the AMA of willfully trying to undermine the credibility of Chiropractic and eliminate it as a profession. The AMA was found guilty in the US Court of Appeals in 1987. The verdict was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1992. What does this mean? The American Medical Association has been found to be a criminal organization. As part of the settlement some penalties were not revealed publicly, but the AMA had to cease from its public policy of undermining the chiropractic profession. Additionally, the AMA ended its policy of not allowing medical doctors from associating with chiropractors or sending patients to chiropractors. This was a major victory for the chiropractic profession. Since the settlement, the chiropractic profession has been depicted more favorably in the media than ever before. I believe this is a direct outgrowth of this legal victory.
Heroes on the Front Line
When reading statistics such as those above, we can easily become pessimistic, especially because there are many more equally unsettling statistics and stories that I did not discuss. I feel, however, that there are reasons to be hopeful and signs that there is a growing sentiment in society to see a change in how we live. Today, many of us are trying to take steps to live more naturally. The natural foods industry is growing rapidly. Each year statistics are showing people are buying more organic food. In 1999, six billion dollars was spent on organic foods and fourteen billion dollars was spent vitamins and herbal supplements. This is up from 8 billion dollars spent on supplements in 1994. People are looking for natural remedies to supplant the need for prescription medications. Many of us are looking at our diets and deciding that changes need to be made. Legislative changes are slowly but surely being made to limit pollution to the external environment. Most importantly, young people are being taught the importance of recycling and how our health is preserved by limiting the damaging effects of our industrialized society. Our bodies are remarkably resilient if we give them good nutrition and proper nerve flow and we have a good mental attitude.
In addition to chiropractic, there are other medical professionals - naturopaths, dentists, concerned scientists and researchers - who are on the front lines dedicating themselves to making the change happen. One day they will hopefully gain greater recognition for the heroic work they do. One of these physicians is Dr. Stanislaw Bryzinski of Houston, Texas. Dr. Bryzinski has developed an alternative treatment for many cancers utilizing chemicals from a sick person's urine. The chemicals are called antineoplastons and are the result of the bodies natural defense system to combat cancer. Dr. Bryzinski isolates these chemicals and puts them back in the body intravenously to assist the body's own recuperative abilities. Dr. Bryzinski's exemplary success with his cancer patients and his willingness to share his research with the American Cancer Society has so far been met with resistance. Dr. Bryzinski eventually won a lawsuit brought against him by the Federal Drug Administration after his clinic was raided and shut down. This lawsuit was won at a great personal cost to Dr. Bryzinski. We are left asking why the FDA would seek to shut down and destroy an inexpensive, effective cancer treatment.
Dr. David Perlmutter in Naples, Florida is a neurologist who specializes in the treatment of neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's and stroke. Dr. Perlmutter utilizes antioxidant therapy to combat many of these health problems. His protocols have been used to reverse symptoms in many cases that were considered hopeless. All of his recommendations are based on scientific studies from around the world in the past 20-30 years. Unfortunately these studies never get the attention from mainstream medicine usually because they utilize therapies that do not include prescription drugs. Dr. Perlmutter has a web site called www.brainrecovery.com and a book by the same name if you want to read about his protocols.
There are too many researchers, scientists, studies, and statistics to mention within the context of this section. I merely intended to open the door for your own investigation into the validity of alternative medicine. I suggest you explore and continue to learn more information that might leave you saying… "I didn't know that!"
