House Gov Reform Comm Hearings - Alt Med & Bioterrorism

[Guest guest]

Thank goodness for Congressman Burton!

Sheri

http://www.integrativephysician.org/BT/BioterrorismStatements.html

http://www.integrativephysician.org/BT/BioterrorismStatement4.pdf

Wayne Jonas' testimony - PDF file

requires adobe acrobat reader to read

Excellent testimony on the value of homeopathy

Government Reform Committee Hearing

" Comprehensive Medical Care for Bioterrorism Exposure - Are We Making

Evidence-Based Decisions? What Are the Research Needs? "

2154 Rayburn House Office Building

November 14, 2001, 1:00 p.m.

Witness statements:

Opening statement by Chairman Dan Burton, including the witness roster,

Government Reform Committee Hearing (pdf file, 1345K)

Statement by MG S. , Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical

Research and Material Command and Fort Detrick. (pdf file, 1525K)

Statement of E. Straus, M.D., Director, National Center for

Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health,

Department of Health and Human Services. (pdf file, 1508K)

Statement of Carole Heilman, Ph.D., Director, Division of Microbiology and

Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

(pdf file, 1789K)

Statement of Wayne B. Jonas, MD, Director, i Institute for

Information Biology, Associate Professor, Uniformed University of the

Health Sciences. (pdf file, 762K)

Statement of H. Reg Mc, M.D., Medical Director Mannatech, Inc. (pdf

file, 1211)

Statement of Sherwood Gorbach, Professor of Community Health and Medicine,

Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. (pdf file, 818K)

Statement of Rich Klasco, M.D., Vice President, Micromedex Corporation.

(pdf file, 519K)

Bioterrorism and Alternative Medicine Government hears testimony

by Creel

On November 14, 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on

Government Reform held a Full Committee hearing entitled: " Comprehensive

Medical Care for Bioterrorism Exposure--Are We Making Evidence-Based

Decisions? What Are the Research Needs? " It was broadcast live on the

Internet from Washington, DC. Follow-up sessions are planned.

Rep. Dan Burton pro-alternatives

Speaking eloquently and confidently, Committee Chairperson Rep. Dan Burton

® of Indiana delivered an introductory speech that reached to the many

corners of alternative and complementary medicine. He spoke of having

evidence of the effectiveness of some treatments, yet finding that they

were being overlooked in a time when we could ill-afford to overlook any

possible options. Burton is an old friend of alternative and complementary

medicine and has made it a focus of the House Committee on Government Reform.

Rep. Bernie (Ind.) of Vermont, once the Progressive Party mayor of

Burlington, VT, and a long-time critic of the pharmaceutical industry,

reinforced Burton's opening statement with one of his own.

Opening statements

There were two panels of witnesses. Each witness was given five minutes or

so to make an introductory statement presenting her or his current state of

medical knowledge regarding vaccines and post-exposure treatments for

biological weapons. They were also allowed to submit in-depth written

testimony to the Committee, which will be entered into the Congressional

Record. [The National Center for Homeopathy Crisis Response Team submitted

a comprehensive document to the Committee authored by Joyce Frye, DO, MBA.

See page xx.]

Rep. Burton posed the majority of the questions and focused on the current

state of preparedness for bioterrorism. He repeatedly questioned witnesses

about their knowledge of alternative and complementary treatments, citing

several treatments that were, in his understanding, viable stand-alone or

adjunct therapies. Rep. Bernie posed several questions as well, all

of which furthered Burton's line of questioning.

NCCAM Director questioned

Virtually all witnesses opened with statements supporting the prevailing

conventional therapies in place at this time. Straus, MD, Director,

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM),

National Institutes of Health (NIH), maintained this tone throughout his

prepared remarks, concluding with the statement: " The best approach is to

manifest, as I do, an unwavering trust in the currently approved drugs and

vaccines, and to not dissipate our energies or to distract the public by

pursuing unproven remedies. " This prompted Burton to closely question

Straus' commitment to bringing complementary and alternative treatments to

the citizens.

FDA in hot seat

Meyerhoff, MD, Director, Anti-Terrorism Programs, Food and Drug

Administration, sat in the hot seat more than anyone, with Burton

repeatedly asking her to explain why the FDA does not actively seek out

complementary and alternative medical treatments for FDA approval.

Receiving the response that this was not within the scope of the FDA, he

pressed her further by asking how many applications for approval of

treatments the FDA receives from non-pharmaceutical entities. Meyerhoff

responded that anyone can submit an application to the FDA for the approval

of a treatment. Burton, with his efforts to make a point so far seemingly

thwarted, made up lost ground when he asked Dr. Meyerhoff if the FDA had

ever actively sought solutions to health problems that lacked efficacious

and/or safe treatment. She responded affirmatively.

While on the surface, a number of the questions appeared to be

inappropriately asked of the FDA, one could see that they went a long way

toward setting a tone of determination to bring all viable treatments to

the public, and may very well have been designed to accomplish exactly this.

S. Klasco, MD, Medical Director, Micromedex Inc., spoke of his

company's database product that allows physicians to access programmed and

real time information on uncommon diseases and their treatments. Physicians

would be able to make entries to the database, thereby building the body of

information and real time epidemiological data for all physicians.

Sherwood Gorbach, MD, Editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal, and

Professor of Community Health, School of Nutrition and Social Policy, Tufts

University School of Medicine, spoke of his work with glyconutrients.

Gorbach is the author of Handbook of Probiotics, which presents research on

viable bacterial cultures that have beneficial effects on health, including

many indigenous fermented foods and beverages. He advocated for the support

of probiotics in partnership with antibiotics. Gorbach told the Committee

he has received numerous grants over many years from NIH, but always gets

turned down when he applies for grants to study probiotics.

Wayne Jonas on homeopathy

Wayne B. Jonas, MD, Director, i Institute for Information Biology (on

loan from the Department of Defense), and former director (1995-1999) of

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (known then as

NIH Office of Alternative Medicine), took a middle-of-the-road approach in

his opening statement, acknowledging the usefulness of antibiotics in

treating infectious diseases. However, he also outlined homeopathy's

historic successes in treating epidemics, along with modern-day research

indicating some efficacy against potential biological threats. Referring

the Committee to an in-depth paper on the subject by Joyce Frye, DO, MBA,

he urged further investigation. When prompted by Rep. Burton, Jonas spoke

of his own positive outcome peer-reviewed research studies in

homeopathically treating tularemia while working directly for the

Department of Defense. When asked if this was submitted to the FDA, Jonas

paused momentarily before replying with a simple, but very effective, " No. "

Burton addressed Major General , U.S. Army Medical Research

Institute for Infectious Diseases, Department of Defense, asking him if he

knew of Jonas' findings. , looking somewhat uncomfortable, responded

that he did. Burton quickly turned to FDA representative Meyerhoff

and asked if the FDA would be open to this information. She obligingly

replied they would.

H. Reg Mc, MD, Director of Research, Fisher Institute of Medical

Research, Medical Director, Mannatech, Inc., was by far the most colorful

witness of the day. For the past seven years, he has been involved with

research and development of nutritional and glyconutritional supplements

for Mannatech, Inc., a multi-levelmarketing company. Mc spoke bluntly

about the difficulties in getting the NIH to fund studies to find the

biochemical mechanism responsible for the boosting of immune function by

glyconutrients, despite the sound work that has already been done in this

area.

Rep. Burton looked sternly at Straus from NIH and demanded to know

if this was true. Straus gave a short speech about the criteria that must

be met for funding. Burton appeared unsatisfied by this explanation and

pointedly asked Straus if he was truly interested in looking at any

complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments. Straus spoke of

the CAM studies currently being funded by his office and stated that he

would like to fund more but considered it irresponsible to do so when there

is so little evidence of efficacy at the start.

At the close of the hearing, Burton invited those who could stay to do so.

Watching Straus walk out of the room, Burton turned to those who remained

and exclaimed with frustration that Straus had little interest in

supporting and exploring CAM.

Hard text copies of the initial testimonies of participants are available

from the House Government Reform Committee office at (202) 225-5074.

The discussion that took place after the opening testimonies, along with

the documents submitted for the Congressional Record, will not be available

for approximately four months. For more on Joyce Frye, DO, MBA¹s submission

to the Committee, " Homeopathy in Crisis Intervention, " see National Center

for Homeopathy website at www.homeopathic.org .

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA

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