It's been a long, hard battle but I must admit to feeling a bit victorious when I learned that the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) had finally endorsed the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) position paper on chiropractic. Even if there wasn't complete agreement among WFC members, the majority ruled and we now are one step closer to having a single defining and uniting statement in our profession.

When the announcement was made, someone asked me, "The WCA's war with the WFC is now officially over, right?"

The truth is, there's no easy answer to that question, mainly because the WCA was never "at war" with the WFC. Our opposition was to what we and many others saw as the organization's heavy-handed attempt to control the profession and its overt contempt for the concept of vertebral subluxation.

When the WFC was first founded, the WCA had no objection to another group that would serve as a "coalition" for chiropractic organizations around the world. Granted, I thought it was a bit arbitrary for them to allow only one representative organization per country (with the exception of two -- the ACA and ICA -- from the U.S.), but since the organization had no legal authority over the profession, they could have a private club if they liked.

It was only after the WFC released its "Tokyo Charter" that the WCA began to alert the profession to the dangers it posed.

After all, the Tokyo Charter specifically pointed to the goal of establishing "one minimum international standard in chiropractic education" -- and practically anointed the WFC as the sole arbiter of that standard.

The Charter even stated that educational programs could be conducted only with "prior consultation with and approval by the national association or other chiropractic organization recognized by the World Federation of Chiropractic as representing chiropractors in that country..."

That could very easily mean that D.C.s anywhere in the world would have to have the WFC's "permission" to present any kind of educational program for their colleagues. If, for instance, a group of subluxation-based doctors in England wanted to provide a CE philosophy course, they would have to get approval from the British WFC member organization, even if that organization was very medically oriented.

The situation was made worse when the WFC's Secretary General, attorney David Chapman-Smith, made it very clear that he thought it best that the profession distanced itself from the concept of subluxation correction altogether -- and demonstrated he could and would act unilaterally when he wanted to.

So yes, the WCA opposed the WFC's attempt to overstep its authority and dictate educational standards and global regulation of chiropractic. We worked diligently to get them to accept the unique character of chiropractic and work with all D.C.s rather than work against some of them.

Now, thanks at least in great part to the pressure put on it by the WCA, the WFC has endorsed the ACC document that includes this statement:

"Chiropractic is Concerned with the preservation and restoration of health, and focuses particular attention on the subluxation."

That's quite a change from the WFC's definition of chiropractic which still appears on its website:

"A health profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and the effects of these disorders on the function of the nervous system and general health. There is an emphasis on manual treatments including spinal manipulation or adjustment."

It's such a BIG change, in fact that I'm sure I'll be forgiven for adopting a "wait and see" attitude. It's very easy to endorse a document, but it's a lot harder to change your actions to be congruent with that document.

All we have to do is look at Western States Chiropractic College -- whose leaders have advocated the use of drugs in chiropractic and sponsored vaccination day events on its campus -- to realize that signing or endorsing the ACC document doesn't mean you automatically act according to what it says.

The entire chiropractic profession applauds the WFC for endorsing the ACC position paper, and looks forward to seeing its actions and policies follow suit.

We'd all, for instance, like to see the WFC repudiate its ill-conceived Tokyo Charter, and join the WCA, ACA, ICA, COCSA, FSCO and other organizations in support of Chiropractic House Concurrent Resolution 46.

When this happens, then I'll be able to state without reservation that yes, indeed, the so-called "war" is over. Until then, I'll keep in mind an astute observation made by John F. Kennedy: "Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names."