January 2008

How long are you willing to spend in jail?

by Dr. Terry A. Rondberg

We've all read about our profession's pioneers who went to jail because they dared to practice chiropractic. Like the suffragists who were imprisoned for demanding the vote, these dedicated doctors were willing to make tremendous sacrifices for the cause of freedom.

That's all in the past, right?

Think again.

Right now, in the United States and elsewhere, the freedom to practice chiropractic as a drug‑free alternative to medical treatment ‑‑ and the freedom to choose what type of health care we want for ourselves and our children ‑‑ is being threatened.

I've been telling you this for years but many of you wouldn't listen. It seemed too absurd to believe that in this day and age anyone would have to worry about being forced to give up his or her chiropractic practice ‑‑ or compelled by law to have their children injected with risky drugs.

But it's already happening.

In Maryland, a school district actually passed regulations stating that if parents didn't make their kids get all the "recommended" vaccines, they could face stiff fines ($50 a day) or up to 10 days in jail.

Maryland's not the only state to have laws mandating vaccines and, as Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) points out on her blog, US Supreme Court decisions have reinforced the right of states to exercise police power to enforce vaccine laws.

More recently, under the Homeland Security Act, the Model State Health Emergency Powers Act and Bioshield I and II gives states broad power to enforce quarantine or vaccination whenever ‑‑ and however ‑‑ they wish.

As might be expected, the medical and drug industries are prodding the states to use that power.

"History shows that state mandates play a key role in maximizing immunization rates, enabling protection of both individuals and the general population," wrote Erin Flanagan‑Klygis, MD, in a policy forum report for the American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics.

"No vaccine is 100 percent safe or effective," the author admitted. "As vaccination rates go up, reports of vaccine‑associated adverse events, both those caused by vaccines (i.e., true adverse reactions such as anaphylaxis) and those temporally associated with vaccination by coincidence, increase."

Still, Dr. Flanagan‑Klygis advocated forcing parents to subject their children to those vaccines anyway.

"Laws that mandate vaccination for school entry provide the best protection against disease outbreaks for both individuals and the general population," she said.

The medical profession is clearly in favor of forced vaccines, as are the drug companies that get rich by selling those vaccine drugs. Backed by their multi‑billion dollar political action funds, they are getting federal and state legislators to create an even more Orwellian health care system which will dictate to every man, woman and child what drugs they must take to avoid a jail sentence.

Segments of our own profession have been taken in by this propaganda as well.

Not long ago, one Canadian chiropractic governing body, the College of Chiropractors of Ontario, passed a rule stating its position on vaccines: "The College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO) accepts vaccination as a cost effective and clinically efficient public health preventative procedure for certain viral and microbial diseases as demonstrated by the scientific community."

To make sure no chiropractic patients were exposed to opposing views, the CCO also stated: "Chiropractors ... may not, in their professional capacity, express views about immunization/vaccination as it is outside their area of professional expertise."

Even the American Chiropractic Association has been shy about opposing forced vaccines. They once put an ad in the Wall Street Journal that was soundly attacked in the profession as being apologetic and timid on the subject of vaccines. It stressed its support for immunizations and antibiotic therapy and said DCs have a moral obligation to refer patients to MDs.

Chirobase ‑‑ the online arm of the so‑called "Quackbusters" Stephen Barrett, MD, and Samuel Homola, DC ‑‑ still cites the ACA's comments that "routine vaccinations have been a proven and effective campaign in the control of many diseases."

On the other hand, the WCA has been extremely vocal in opposing all mandatory vaccines. It has issued a strongly worded position paper that states, in part: "Medical and scientific research, as well as overwhelming clinical reports, has clearly demonstrated the potential for risk posed by many commonly administered vaccines. These same reports have indicated that the effectiveness of many of these vaccines has not been adequately proven.... No person should be forced by government regulation or societal pressure to receive any medication or treatment, including vaccines, against his or her will. This includes mandated vaccines as a requirement for public school admission or for employment eligibility."

The medical and drug industries have strong reasons to push for vaccines; financial incentives and power are both clearly elements. But they have equally compelling motives for putting the same kind of pressure on the chiropractic profession, dictating to doctors of chiropractic how they can ‑‑ and cannot ‑‑ practice, and making it difficult (if not impossible) for patients to choose chiropractic care.

We've been in denial too long, convinced that this couldn't happen, but we must face reality NOW. It is happening and it's going to get worse. Unless the trend shifts drastically, you could actually face criminal charges and jail time for crimes such as providing subluxation correction, caring for asymptomatic patients, or adjusting any person under the age of 18.

I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know if we can do anything about it at this point. It may already be too late. But I know that I'm going to continue trying to stop this train until I breathe my last breath.

The first thing we have to do is dig down deep inside ourselves and find the courage to take a stand and act. This isn't easy or without risk. The World Chiropractic Alliance has learned this during its nearly two decades of taking bold stands. But we're not here to win popularity contests with the medical industry or acceptance by the drug companies. We're here to fight for our right and freedom to practice chiropractic.

As I see it, we have to fight this battle on several fronts by taking these actions:

** Educate the public. Tell the chiropractic story and tell it loudly and often. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers explaining why people should protest forced vaccines. Get the facts from the World Chiropractic Alliance (www.worldchiropracticalliance.org) or NVIC (www.nvic.org ) websites and make sure you distribute the information everywhere you can. Include vaccine information in your practice newsletters.

**  Help fund the NVIC ‑‑ Be sure to provide a generous donation to the National Vaccine Information Center (www.nvic.org ). They are the most valuable resource we have for educating the public and fighting against mandatory vaccines.

** Support chiropractic research. The lack of scientific research is still the biggest criticism against chiropractic. Support

research journals like the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (www.jvsr.com) or programs such as the Quixote research and clinical science project (www.QuixoteSoftware.net). If we can prove that chiropractic helps build the immune system, we can offer it as a scientifically proven natural alternative to vaccines.

** Donate to the Chiropractic Anti‑Defamation Fund. Help pay for efforts to raise awareness about chiropractic and fight attacks from within and outside the profession. See www.worldchiropracticalliance.org  for a link to the CADF online donation page.

** Join the WCA. If you're a member of another chiropractic organization, ask yourself if it's doing enough to fight for your rights and the rights of your patients. If not, consider joining us in this struggle. If you aren't a member of any group, ask yourself why not? It's time to take stand on the issues and get involved and become a chiropractic "freedom fighter."

Take action NOW. They won't let you do it once you're behind bars.