February 2005

see also: Dr. McCoy responds to slam on JVSR research and

Should we change chiropractic to please the MDs? by Dr. Terry A. Rondberg

Fla. chiropractic college under fire

A small and rapidly vocal group of professors at Florida State University College of Medicine have threatened to quit if the school goes through with plans to start an FSU College of Chiropractic. Critics such as orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ray Bellamy are trying to paint chiropractic as an unscientific discipline, in the same league as UFOlogy or astrology.

Having DCs enter their turf disturbs many members of the FSU medical community but it's not the only reason for their protests. The "follow the money" rule applies as well.

The Florida state legislature granted FSU $9 million for the chiropractic college but, until the college is actually operational, the school can spend the money as it sees fit. Much, if not most of the money will likely go to the medical school if the chiropractic school is stopped.

Many say there is also the possibility of influence from the pharmaceutical industry. Among the other opponents of the chiropractic college is Robert Holton, a chemistry professor who generated millions of dollars in royalties for FSU after he developed the drug Taxol for drugmaker Bristol‑Myers Squibb. No drug company in the world would willingly support chiropractic studies, with its emphasis on drug‑free health care. Like the medical profession, the pharmaceutical industry has strong reasons to take whatever actions are possible to contain ‑‑ and ultimately eliminate ‑‑ chiropractic.

But the school, which was authorized by the Florida legislature after years of discussion and lobbying, has come under fire from chiropractors as well, who say the need to appease the medical college will compromise chiropractic principles.

According to FSU Provost Larry Abele, the FSU chiropractic college will offer only joint degrees, with chiropractic being combined with a master's degree in one of five areas: aging studies, food and nutrition, movement science, health policy, or public health.

The idea that offering a DC degree by itself is not "good enough" for FSU has infuriated many chiropractors.

Terry A. Rondberg, DC, president of the World Chiropractic Alliance, found himself in the unenviable position of having to side with the medical detractors in protesting the school, although vehemently arguing against their reasons.

"The chiropractic profession should not have to deny its true identity merely to fit into the medically oriented FSU structure," he said. "To do so will be a disservice to all students who may apply to FSU thinking they'll be receiving a chiropractic education. Instead, they'll get a medical education geared to keeping chiropractic in its place ‑‑ at the bottom rung of the health care ladder. They deserve better. Chiropractic deserves better!"

Abele's own undisguised prejudice against chiropractic makes it even more doubtful that the school will teach true chiropractic, including the detection and correction of subluxations.

In a St. Petersburg Times editorial, Abele attacked the notion that chiropractic could be of value for anything more than back pain. In the piece, he was quoted as saying: "Our first commitment is to a rigorous scientific educational program, one that would explicitly reject some current chiropractic activities, such as many of the articles published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research. The Journal includes such 'peer‑reviewed science' as: the benefits of spinal manipulation to promote fertility in infertile women, or to reverse multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease."

Matthew McCoy, editor of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research and co‑founder of the private sector research company RCS (Research and Clinical Science), responded to that editorial (printed here) but his response was never published in the paper.

As of early January 2005, the question of whether an FSU College of Chiropractic would ever become a reality was still unanswered. "It's not a done deal," Abele said in an article for The St. Petersburg Times. "There are a lot of steps to go through."

Considering the mounting opposition from both sides of the health care aisle, the steps will most likely lead away from the FSU campus.