Letter to the Congress
-
Following
Letter to the Congress had helped the Congress understand Chinese Medicine
and the root cause of the ephedra event, had protected Chinese Medicine,
which will help millions of
American patients and the public.
Someone
said what is happening here is a green herbal revolution, a non-bloody war
-- Chinese Medicine (CM) Independent War. The Letter
to the Congress (Original) below is
the Chinese Medicine Declaration of Independence.
No
matter how people call it, ACMA respects and admires those people -- Chinese
Medicine professionals as well as patients of Chinese Medicine and the
public -- who are dedicated to the ideal of "Give me liberty or give
me death" in pursuing and advocating Chinese Medicine. It is
their endeavors and efforts that will accelerate the earlier arrival of the Chinese
Medicine Independent Day.
Time
Table
Letter
to the Congress -- Original
Letter to the Congress
-- Follow-Up (1)
Actions
Congress
Directory
Epilogue
Time
Table
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- In early 2002, the "ephedra event" occurred, in which
more than 150 people died, and hundreds and thousands people got
harmed.
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- By August 2002, many states and FDA decided to ban ephedra.
Competitors of Chinese Medicine widely publicized the "ephedra
event", trying to use the "ephedra event" to ban not only
ephedra, but also the entire Chinese Medicine in the United States. It was the darkest time in the Chinese Medicine history in
US. If this situation continued, Chinese Medicine might be outlawed in the United
States.
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- In
August 2002 -- It was at this critical time in Chinese Medicine history, facing the life and death of Chinese Medicine in the United
States, Dr. Bob Xu standed out and initiated the Letter to the
Congress (Original). In this
letter, he elucidated the "ephedra event" in details,
and point out that it was the FDA rather than the Chinese Medicine that
should take the responsibility for the "ephedra event". The
letter further proposed to re-structure the FDA, amend of the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994",
and establish the future medicine -- Unified Medicine.
-
- In
March 2003 -- The Congress decided to look into the issue of the 1994 DSHEA amendment.
-
-
- In
December 2003 -- FDA issued a consumer alert on dietary
supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids with an exemption to traditional
Chinese herbal remedies. For more info on FDA's action, please
visit:
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- February, 2004 -- In
this month, two historic events took place at the FDA:
-
- (1)
In this month, the FDA's
Commissioner
was stepped down. The step down of FDA Commissioner might serve as a
gesture from the FDA acknowledging the FDA's responsibility for the ephedra event.
-
- (2)
Soon after the FDA's commissioner was stepped down, the FDA's attitude towards Chinese Herbal Medicine
(CHM) had been changed. In the same month, the FDA issued
a Final Rule. In the Final Rule, for the first time
in history, FDA acknowledged that Chinese Herbal
Medicine can treat diseases, which distinguished Chinese Herbal Medicine from
other dietary
supplements.
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- Notes:
- (1) FDA used an
inappropriate term "Asian Medicine" to refer to Chinese Medicine
in the Final Rule. For more info on the inappropriate terms of
"Oriental Medicine or Asian Medicine", please refer to the
article: On
Chinese Medicine vs. Oriental/Asian Medicine, ACMA
Publication Issue May 2003
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Back to top
Actions
If
you support the Letter to the
Congress (Original)
and the
Letter
to the Congress – Follow-Up (1),
please send
the
following
sample letter to (1)
members of
U.S. Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions;
(2)
members of
U.S. House
Committee on Energy and Commerce -- Subcommittee on Health; (3)
your district's Congressional Representatives; by email,
or fax. Directories
of above two committees and all congressional representatives are available at Congress
Directory. You
are also welcome to pass above message
to your patients, students, friends, relatives,
etc. If
you wish to have the Letter to the
Congress (Original)
and the Letter
to the Congress – Follow-Up (1)
revised, you are
welcome to send your opinions, comments, and suggestions to: info@americanchinesemedicineassociation.org
Sample
Letter
Dear
Honorable (Congressional Representative's name):
I support
the two letters
because they have addressed many important issues that are of
significance to the healthcare system and will be beneficial to millions of
American
patients and the public.
Thank
you.
Name:
____________________________________
Address:__________________________________
City:
_____________________________________
State: ___________
Zip
Code: _____________ - __________
Date:
________________________
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Epilogue
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- The "ephedra event" ended with the step down of the FDA's
Commissioner, the FDA's acknowledgement that Chinese Herbal
Medicine can treat diseases, and the lift of the ban of ephedra for Chinese Medicine
practitioners. These are positive moves. But they are not
enough.
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- In order to prevent similar incidents from
happening again, ACMA deems that
-
- (1) the real cause of the "ephedra
event" should be corrected and removed;
- (2) the public should be informed of all
related information;
- (3) family members of the ephedra event victims
should be informed of the real cause of the deaths of their loved ones, and
appropriate compensations should be made to the victims of the "ephedra
event".
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