The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) met in March to hear testimony from those who view wellness as "more than health, more than just exercise and eating right," and capturing "more of a world vision of how CAM can impact on people's well-being."

World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) member, Donald M. Epstein, D.C., was among many health advocates and practitioners who spoke during the meeting.

In his testimony, he discussed the use of Network Spinal Analysis in wellness care and stated that recent findings show "wellness practices are attracting a different, more health-conscious population than that attracted to disease care. One would think," Dr. Epstein continued, "that simply making healthy lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, meditation, non-smoking, etc.) would predict greater wellness. This has not been shown to be true unless greater life enjoyment also resulted from care."

Also presenting testimony was WCA member John Adams, D.C., author of the book, "The Power," a fictional account exposing the dangers of vaccines. He expressed concern over drug advertising and its effect on the American public.

After reiterating some of the more widely known facts about the dangers of pharmaceuticals, he asked, "If a safer and more effective choice for health care exists, why don't the majority of Americans use it? I believe it is due to generations of drug advertising and television programming. From 'Marcus Welby, M.D.' to 'E.R.,' Americans have been taught a faulty paradigm for decades. They are saturated with the idea that health comes from the outside and nearly always in the form of drugs and surgery."

A representative from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) also presented a statement before the Commission, which provided policy recommendations on the topic of wellness.

Noting that "the key principle behind chiropractic care as well as many other complementary and alternative therapies is wellness," the ACA urged the Commission to "ensure that the promotion of wellness is paramount in any recommendation provided to Congress." It called for government attention to areas such as insurance to cover wellness costs, workplace wellness efforts, and a wellness awareness campaign in elementary schools.

Speaking on the topic of "Information Dissemination," were representatives from Prevention, Alternative Medicine, Time, and Consumers Union magazines. The news media was represented by The Washington Post, "CBS Evening News," and National Public Radio.

The Washington Post Health Section editor said that the newspaper found itself "taking heat for our coverage of CAM from 'both sides'"

He added, "I've come to regard this crossfire as evidence of nothing more (or less) than the fact that we've found ourselves on the battlefield of a culture where the stakes -- individual lives, the public imagination, a view of commerce, the future of science, the meaning of history, technology or humanity, and not least, money -- are extremely high."

The senior writer at Time explained, "When deciding whether or not to report on a scientific study of complementary medicine we use the same standards we use for allopathic medicine. We consider where the study was published, how well it was designed and we talk to outside experts in the field to determine both the context and plausibility of the results."

She said that it appears that new fads surface about every six months and that the public wants to be empowered to make choices.

"CBS Evening News" producer, Susan Schiller, stated, "CBS News has a deep commitment to reporting on health issues. We know network television viewers rank health and medicine at the top of their 'reasons to watch' list and as a topic, it's more important to them than politics! They get more of their medical information from TV and other forms of media than they do from their

own doctors."

Among the most interesting statements was that made by Diana Chambers, president of Friends of Health. Noting that "language leads reality," Ms. Chambers took issue with the terminology used by CAM.

"The language of technical medicine, implicit in the term CAM, is so inherently lifeless, and yet we're gathered here in this room today to talk about healing and life," she stated. "I urge the Commission to stand back and take a look to see if the language you're using is consistent with your real concerns and interests."

Other speakers included representatives from the University of Maryland, the Complementary Medicine Program, the National Institute for Healthcare Research, Harvard School of Public Health, as well as nutritional and dietary experts.

The Commission will be spending time during the May meeting to do just that. Specifically at issue is the word "medicine" when used to describe a wellness paradigm.