Illinois Legislative Alert: Making outlaws of many nutrition educators? (Dietetic & Nutrition Services Practice Act.

[Debbie Hillman]

To:  

Advocates for Urban Agriculture   (Greater Chicago)

Food Love Chicago (food lovers in general -- includes bodyworkers & alternative health practitioners)

Illinois Local Food and Farms Coalition  (Illinois)

Good Greens Midwest  (6 states served by USDA FNS Midwest Office:  IL, IN, OH, MI, MN, WI, based in Chicago)

Evanston Healthy Community Task Force (PTA Councils)

and other Illinois residents

To my Illinois "local food and farm" colleagues:

An Illinois bill has been brought to my attention that, if renewed, will have ramifications through the year 2023 and which, I believe, may be

--  against the spirit of Illinois' local food initiatives 

--  against the spirit of food democracy, food sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and self-responsibility (core principles of "local food system" work)

--  against the spirit of scientific investigation and evolution of human knowledge

--  in violation of our U.S. Constitutional right to free speech

ISSUE.   The primary issue, as I understand it, is who will be allowed to share nutritional, health, and food information with Illinois residents.   The proposed bill would severely limit the people who can share such information with consumers.

Below is an email and announcement about the bill and the issues at hand, crafted by an organization called Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom.  They are working with a national organization, National Health Freedom Coalition (based ini Minnesota).   This issue has been coming up in a number of states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, and North Carolina. 

I  personally would hope that we can have some extended collegial discussions, with or without the sponsors of the legislation, before this bill is brought to a vote.      

Currently there are only three Senate sponsors (no House sponsors):

Chief sponsor:  Sen. Iris Martinez (Chicago)

Sen. Dale Righter (Mattoon)

Sen. Michael Noland (Elgin)

CONFERENCE CALL.   On Monday evening (Nov. 19), ICHF and NHFC are hosting an Illinois conference call to discuss this bill.  I've been told that there is room for 150 people on this call.

Date: Monday, November 19, 2012
Time: 7:00 pm (CST)
Dial In Number: 1-218-936-4700
Access Code: 5129065

I urge Illinois nutrition educators of all kinds -- registered dietitians, medical doctors, nurses, chiropractors, herbalists, chefs, mothers, farmers, community health workers, Masters in Nutrition, naturopaths, other alternative health practitioners, bodyworkers, homeopaths, teachers, self-studiers, health coaches, sports teams coaches, indigenous healers, etc., etc.  -- to join the call and/or contact the organizers for more information (Dan Podraza in Illinois, Diane Miller from the national organization). 

Three minor pieces of information (and an open question):

1. ADA's name.   The organization cited below, ADA (American Dietetics Association), recently changed its name.  It is now called the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

2.  HEN DPG e-list.  For a number of years, there has been a group of ADA members who have been discussing health and nutrition as it relates to environment and increasing hunger in the U.S.   This group has an ADA-sponsored e-list called Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, a dietetic practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  http://www.hendpg.org/   The mission is:  Empowering members to be leaders in sustainable and accesible food & water systems.  Many of the dietitians active in "local food" circles are also members of this practice group.   

Question:  I am wondering if there has been any discussion on this national issue over the HEN DPG e-list. 

3.  Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship. The Institute for Justice is involved in a North Carolina case, defending a blogger's right to share nutrition information.  This is the same organization that has a Chicago law clinic, Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship (at University of Chicago's law school).   I do not know if Chicago's IJCE has been brought in on this conversation. 

Please share with anyone who is concerned about this issue and this bill.  

-- Debbie

Debbie Hillman

Evanston, Illinois

D. Hillman Strategies:  Food Policy for Voters

847/328-7175

DLHi...@sbcglobal.net

FoodVote.2012.com    (http://DHillmanStrategies.com)

From Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom:

As you know, the S.B. 2936, sponsored by Chicago's 20th District Senator Iris Y. Martinez, seeks to extend the Illinois monopolistic Dietitian and Nutrition services law until 2023 and increase the penalties for unlicensed practice to $10,000 for each offense. The definition of Dietetics and Nutrition services is so broad that it makes illegal anyone who practices within the nutrition field that does not have a license including nurses, naturopaths, nutritional consultants, certified clinical nutritionists, herbalists, etc. To read H.B. 2936, Click HERE.

Senator Martinez wants to pass the bill through to veto session starting November 27. It's important that IL consumers and practitioners make their voices heard before that date. This very much has to do with food and health freedom - as it severely limits the options available to IL consumers of where they receive nutritional advice/information.

Background
The dietitians Act was put into IL law without much acknowledgement 10 years ago. It made it illegal for anyone to talk about nutrition without being licensed or in a scope of practice. This Act sunsets January 1, 2013. The current proposed bill as written would increase the limitations and penalties for anyone who is not a Registered Dietician - this would make it illegal for anyone other than a Registered Dietician to give a consumer/patient any kind of nutritional advice whatsoever.
Below are some great resources to gain a better understanding of the issue and what is at stake:

• The July Forbes article Is The ADA Intentionally Using State Legislatures To Block Alternative Nutrition Providers? outlines the issue on a national level and ADA's involvement and lobbying power.
• Here is an audio of an interview with Diane Miller, JD, the attorney helping us in IL with trying to amend the bill. This interview is super helpful in understanding what's going on, what this bill means and the implications of it, not only in IL but nationally as well. Well worth listening to it in its entirety.  According to Diane, "Illinois has one of the worst laws in the country right now and they want to make it worse...
• Here's another great interview, with Pam Popper who has been harassed for many years by the ADA, where she discusses her battle with Ohio Dietitians and discusses other cases of senseless persecution from dietitians. What I like about this interview is that there's also discussion about the problem with apathy among constituents within communities who just don't care about politics or simple ignorance of legislative matters that affect us and our communities directly.  They discuss the situation in IL and the need for consumer opposition/discussion and making their message heard.
  About Pam Popper.  Pam Popper is a naturopath, an internationally recognized expert on nutrition, medicine and health, and the Executive Director of The Wellness Forum. She has been featured in many widely distributed documentaries, including Processed People and Making a Killing and appears in a new film, Forks Over Knives, which opened in major theaters in May 2011. She is one of the co-authors of the companion book which is on the New York Times bestseller list.
• There are now 2 amendments proposed - the Certified Clinical Nutritionists (CCNs) have an amendment that exempt only CCNs, but no one else. Diane Miller, JD along with Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom (IC4HF) have proposed a more inclusive amendment called the Health Freedom of Speech Amendment that protects citizens who are not registered dieticians.
  
• The Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom (IC4HF) was formed in opposition of this bill and have joined forces with Diane Miller, JD in an effort to amend S.B.2936 as written.
  
• Diane Miller will be leading a public call on the issue Monday November 19, 7pm.
  

Action Steps
IC4HF and Diane Miller, JD recommend the following actions before Nov. 27:

• Join the public conference call Monday Nov 19, 7pm to learn more about the bill, the proposed Health Freedom of Speech Amendment and further action steps
• Contact your local state representative and state senator with the following message : “I oppose S.B. 2936 as written – it unconstitutionally limits our freedom of speech on nutrition information and decreases and jeopardizes consumer options in natural health care. Please add the Health Freedom of Speech Amendment to this bill to protect unlicensed citizens.” To determine who your personal Senate and Assembly Representatives are, please click here.

Public Call: Amending S.B.2936 - Monday Nov 19, 7pm
Below are the public call details regarding SB2936 and Illinois' grassroots effort in amending the bill. Please join us on the call for Illinois Health Freedom. For more information, contact IC4HF's Dan Podraza, 847-891-6762.

Dear Illinois resident interested in Health Freedom: Greetings and thank you for your interest in health freedom. You are invited to a conference call with Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom, a project of NHFA: 1) To introduce you to members of this new and important health freedom group, Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom, and hear whether you have an interest in being part of the new group; 2) To update you on efforts to amend IL SB 2936, the restrictive and monopolistic Dietitian Nutritionist Licensing bill, so that it will include a freedom of speech health freedom amendment to protect access to many unlicensed complementary and alternative health care practitioners; and 3) To update you on ICHF’s work on preparing to introduce a broader health freedom bill that would exempt unlicensed practitioners from occupational licensing under a safe harbor law, and protect consumer access to these many holistic practitioners. * Please join us for a conference call for Illinois health freedom: Date: Monday, November 19, 2012 Time: 7:00 pm (CST) Dial In Number: 1-218-936-4700 Access Code: 5129065 If you have questions about this email, or would prefer not to receive any future emails like this, please let us know. Sincerely, Diane Miller, J.D. Director of Law and Public Policy and Anne Tenner, J.D. Staff Attorney National Health Freedom Coalition /Action www.nationalhealthfreedom.org Become a member of NHFA and help us work to ensure health freedom! To become a member of NHFA, click here. National Health Freedom ACTION Become a member of NHFA or make your contribution now! NHFA is a non-profit 501(c) 4 advocacy and lobbying organization. Contact Us Call (507) 663 9018 Fax (507) 663 9013 E-mail in...@nationalhealthfreedom.org Write: NHFA PMB 218 2136 Ford Pkwy. St. Paul, MN 55116-1863 It is not our intention to send unsolicited e-mail or spam of any kind. Please accept our apologies if you have received this e-mail without subscribing to our list. If you do not wish to receive further email communications from National Health Freedom Action, please click here then press SEND.

[Fereshteh]

Does anyone know more about why Martinez is sponsoring this bill? It makes me think about those Herbalife nutrition centers that pop up around a lot of Chicago's Latino neighborhoods. Here is a short blurb in Time Out that describes the pyramid-scheme operation:
http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/museums/90686/whats-up-with-that

Herbalife and their shakes-in-styrofoam-cups are exploitative as a business, but condemning all non-traditional nutrition and health providers is not the solution.

Fereshteh
http://www.garlicandgreens.info/

[Debbie Hillman]

To:  

Advocates for Urban Agriculture   (Greater Chicago)

Food Love Chicago (food lovers in general - includes bodyworkers & alternative health practitioners)

Illinois Local Food and Farms Coalition  (Illinois)

Good Greens Midwest  (6 states served by USDA FNS Midwest Office:  IL, IN, OH, MI, MN, WI, based in Chicago)

Evanston Healthy Community Task Force  (PTA Councils)

and other Illinois residents who find health and healing in many places (and want to keep it that way)

In light of the current Illinois legislative alert about SB2936 (Dietetic & Nutrition Services Practice Act, which would severely limit the availability and variety of nutrition information in Illinois), here are two separate people collecting stories about being healed or helped by receiving nutrition counseling from "alternative" health care practitioners.   One person is collecting Illinois stories, the  other is looking nationally (possibly internationally).  

Briefly, here's some details about the two collectors.   Below are the complete emails, with full information.  

1.  ILLINOIS.   Venessa Rodriguez is one of the leaders of the Illinois initiative (Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom) to get an amendment into SB2936 that would not make outlaws of the many health providers giving nutritional information.   She is a Chicago resident who is currently going for a certification in integrative nutrition.   In a separate but related arena, she and a partner are looking to create a website that will help the millenial generation (children of Baby Boomers) quickly engage in civic action.   

Send Illinois stories to:   ness...@gmail.com

2.  NATIONAL (international ?) on-line "magazine and e-commerce site promoting health and well-being through community-curated wisdom".   HoneyColony, created by  Maryam Henein (journalist and film director).  Since this is a web-based initiative, I presume this is open to anyone on the Earth.   On a policy level, of course, stories will be confined to specific jurisdictions (national, state, etc.).   

Send Illinois and/or other stories to:   in...@honeycolony.com

-- Debbie

Debbie Hillman

Evanston, Illinois

D. Hillman Strategies:  Food Policy for Voters

847/328-7175

DLHi...@sbcglobal.net

FoodVote.2012.com    (http://DHillmanStrategies.com)

From Maryam Henein, HoneyColony

Date: November 22, 2012 11:50:55 AM CST

To: <com...@elist.tufts.edu>

Subject: [COMFOOD:] Looking for stories about health, food justice, food policy, nutrition

HoneyColony, created by investigative journalist and director (Vanishing of the Bees) Maryam Henein, is a cutting-edge online magazine and ecommerce site promoting health and well-being through community-curated wisdom. The aim is to empower members to share knowledge and create social change across all spectrums of health and sustainability. 

To learn more check out animated video that explains HoneyColony in 75 seconds: http://bit.ly/US3IGB

HoneyColony is soon to launch, and we need your brilliant, original, well-written stories! Have you experienced a powerful, raw, provocative personal healing journey that others can learn from? Have you used food as medicine with shocking success (or madcap trial and error)? Do you have a passionate opinion or some hardcore expertise on the best probiotic or the purest raw vitamin supplement? Do y

ou have an intelligent rant against the GMO-BigAG food supply that underlies chronic illness and early demise? Or maybe you've written a series of haikus hailing the chia seed or one heartbreaking essay on what it means to tap into your innate human ability to heal and thrive? Please, send us your best work for our heartfelt consideration. Seriously, we like personal essays, investigative journalism, photo essays, profiles and interviews of major and minor players in health and wellness, and more. We like off-road ideas we've never heard of, and we like fresh takes on old topics that never lose their punch.  

Please email in...@honeycolony.com

Sweetly, 
Maryam Henein

Filmmaker/Eco-entrepreneur/All-around Raconteur

Follow me:  |  |    

From Venessas Rodriguez, Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom.  

Dear Friends,

In this time of the year when we're reminded of giving thanks and expressing gratitude for all of the blessings in our lives, I feel especially grateful to have the ability and right as a community member and citizen to stand up for something I believe in and make my voice heard. Particularly when so many others around the world do not share that priveledge. 

Initially, the issue I am addressing below - the Senate Bill 2936 Illinois Dietitian and Nutrition Services law - may seem like a foreign topic or something completely unrelated to you. This issue, however, has everything to do with your freedom of choice, freedom of speech and freedom of health. It directly affects every citizen in IL and the implications of this bill if passed without the proposed amendment below are far reaching. It would make it illegal for nurses, chiropractors, naturopathic doctors, herbalists, health coaches, etc etc - except a licensed registered dietitian (that means licensed with ADA - who's corporate sponsors are Coca Cola, Hershey's, National Dairy Counsel, etc...) to give nutritional advice or counseling. This not only means they will severely limit (and have monopoly over) your choice when it comes to seeking out nutrition advice (this July Forbes article goes into much greater detail), but numerous jobs will be eliminated and those very same people who make it their business to help others with their health will then be punished and fined up to $10,000 for doing so.

 Today I am asking for your help with 2 things:

1. In the email below, there are easy action steps anyone can take - contacting their state representative by phone or email, and telling them to oppose SB 2936 as written unless it includes the proposed amendment. I have also included a template letter (attached) that was forwarded to me which makes it super easy to copy/customize and forward!
2. If you or someone you know has been healed or helped greatly by a health practitioner who gave nutritional counseling (other than a RD), and would like to share your story, please contact me at ness...@gmail.com. We are collecting stories from IL citizens which will demonstrate the importance of and need for alternative health care practitioners!

Please forward this email onto anyone and everyone in support of health freedom.

Thank you!

Venessa

November 23 , 2012 Action Needed in Illinois Oppose Senate Bill 2936 UNLESS  It has the health freedom of speech AMENDMENT! 1. Come to Springfield, Illinois, on November 27, 2012, and help Illinois Citizens for Health Freedom work to amend SB 2936 with the health freedom of speech amendment. Many health freedom citizens will be gathering at the Holy Land Diner at 11:00 A.M. on the morning of Nov. 27 th. Address: 107 W. Cook St., Springfield, Illinois. This is one block south of the Capitol on the corner of Cook and Spring St. Wear something green so we can recognize each other. For more info on the meeting place contact in...@nationalhealthfreedom.org. 2. Contact Illinois Senators and Representatives and ask them to amend SB 2936 to include the following health freedom of speech amendment! This Act does not prohibit or restrict: (j) A person who furnishes nutrition information provides recommendations or advice concerning nutrition, or markets food, food materials or dietary supplements and provides nutrition information, recommendations or advice related to that marketing, if the person does not represent that he or she is a licensed dietitian nutritionist. While performing acts described in this paragraph, a person shall be deemed not to be engaged in the practice of dietetics or nutrition services. The Illinois Dietitian and Nutrition Services law is one of the most restrictive monopolistic Dietitian laws in the U.S and contains penalties for anyone advising and recommending nutrition solutions unless you are a licensed Dietitian. The law is up for repeal on December 31, 2012. Senate Bill 2936 is attempting to extend the law until 2023. This law needs to be repealed NOW! Or in the alternative, this law needs to have the health freedom of speech amendment added to exempt unlicensed citizens that give nutritional advice from charges of violations. The bill is the Senate Assignments Committee and will continue to move forward at the start of session November 27, 2012. Click Here to read S.B. 2936 as introduced. What you can do to TAKE ACTION: If you live in Illinois Click Here to Take Action by entering your Zip Code and sending an automatic message to your Illinois state legislator opposing SB 2936 unless it is amended! Or contact your legislator directly . To determine who your personal Senate and Representatives are, please Click Here, and enter your address in the boxes provided and click “Search”. If you do not live in Illinois Take Action by immediately contacting all members of the Senate to let them know you Oppose S.B. 2936 and that you want the health freedom exemption amendment added to the bill to protect unlicensed practitioners and citizens. Contact legislators by phone, email, or personal letter by going to their websites and filling out their contact form. Also, keep in touch to come to any future hearings. Contacting Legislators: 1. Contact Illinois Senate Members. Call the office phone numbers, Listed Here, and leave a message with each member of the Senate. E-mail, fax or mail a letter, to the Senators. Call from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 8 a.m. to adjournment on Saturdays. The message : “I oppose S.B. 2936 as written – it unconstitutionally limits our freedom of speech on nutrition information and advice and decreases and jeopardizes consumer options in natural health care. Please add the health freedom of speech exemption to this bill to protect unlicensed citizens.” Also, please forward this email to your friends and family to have them take action too. Telephone calls, emails or letters are extremely important at this time! THANK YOU for your commitment to Health Freedom! If you have questions, contact us at in...@nationalhealthfreedom.org.