The World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS), whose 17,000 members represent 19 colleges throughout the world, voted to issue a statement reiterating their rejection of the Mercy Conference Guidelines and urging the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) to withdraw them from the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) database.

The vote came after students from Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic submitted a proposal to send the letter during the 1999 World Congress meeting held in Bournemouth, England.

The statement, signed by Tim Lynch, chairperson of the 1999 WCCS reads:

"Recently, the NGC has chosen to include the 'Guidelines for Chiropractic Quality Assurance and Practice Parameters,' also known as the Mercy guidelines, implying that they are the accepted standard for chiropractic practice. However, the Mercy guidelines have been rejected and dismissed by the majority of the chiropractic community, including 29 state and national organizations, as well as independent chiropractors from around the world.

"As defined by the Mercy document, Chiropractic is a 'short term manipulative treatment for adults only, with symptoms of low back pain,' and is not necessary, or even recommended, for anyone that doesn't fit into those narrow parameters. It is our feeling that the majority of the profession does not agree with this and numerous other statements in the Mercy document.

"Chiropractic is based on the premise that living things have an innate striving towards organization and that vertebral subluxation is an abnormal, but most often correctable, condition which interferes with the expression of that striving. Thus, making chiropractic much more than a back-pain treatment for those over the legal age of consent. Chiropractic care, as represented by the majority of the profession, is for any human being when manifesting the signs of vertebral subluxation regardless of age, or any other health considerations, within the practical limits of patient safety. Chiropractic is applicable to any patient who exhibits vertebral subluxation, regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms and disease.

"Therefore, if the mission of the AHCPR/NGC is to allow informative access to healthcare models for the overall benefit of the public, we feel it to be of extreme importance to offer valid and correct information. In essence, to NOT include the Mercy Guidelines as a description of chiropractic on the NGC database.

"At the present time, the Mercy Guidelines are under investigation as to whether or not it even meets the requirements necessary for inclusion in the NGC database. However, if the Mercy Guidelines do indeed meet the requirements necessary for inclusion in the database, we strongly encourage that a disclaimer be attached, i.e., a statement acknowledging the fact that the majority of the chiropractic profession rejects these guidelines. We feel this to be imperative so as not to mislead consumers as to the principal purpose of chiropractic."

Numerous members of the chiropractic profession have protested the inclusion of the Mercy guidelines in the NGC database, which is accessible through the Internet. The "Vertebral Subluxation in Chiropractic Practice Guideline," developed by the Council on Chiropractic Practice (CCP), was included in the NGC in February 1999.

Although the NGC was formed in April 1998, Mercy organizers never applied for inclusion until shortly after the CCP guidelines were accepted. By that time, however, the Mercy document was seven years old and, according to the criteria set up by the Department of Health and Human Services, guidelines included on the database must have been "developed, reviewed or revised within the last 5 years."

To overcome this obstacle, the unspecified individuals who submitted the document to the NGC stated that the document had been "reaffirmed" in 1999. Yet, no one has provided any information on when or where it was "reaffirmed" -- or by whom.