The Congregation of Universal Wisdom Opposes Vaccination
The Congregation of Universal Wisdom asserts that injection of any medication or other man-made substance would violate the sanctity of the body. The organization is operated by Walter P. Schilling, D.C., who had said that is was incorporated in New Jersey in 1975 and in 2000 had a total membership of “4,423 Souls” in 24 states, with 2,427 members in New Jersey, 1,255 in Florida and 409 New York. To join, families must state the name and birth date of each family member and include a dated statement that they will aspire to live by the group’s tenets. The “customary donation” for a family lifetime membership is $75. The group’s religious tenets (shown below) express fundamentalist chiropractic theory in religious terms. They say, for example, …
Continue Reading >New Chiropractic Group Wants to Prescribe Drugs
First Chiropractic Physician Association of America (FCPAA) describes itself as: a national full service association with 20 daughter associations focused on correcting the restrictive laws of the past, resulting in the expansion of your rights as a primary care physician. Expansion of your rights will allow you to excel in the future and provide better health to your patients [1]. FCPAA’s president and chief executive officer is Roderic Archer Lacy, M.D., D.C., who founded the Florida Chiropractic Physician Association (FCPA in 2011, generated the formation of similar groups in other states, and organized the FCPAA as an umbrella group. FCPA’s membership is free for the first year and $99 annually after that. FCPAA membership is free to all chiropractors. As of April 2013, its reported …
Continue Reading >Consumer Reports Gives Bad Advice on Chiropractors
The September 2011 issue of Consumer Reports gives ignorant and irresponsible advice about chiropractors. The advice is part of a report about a survey that asked subscribers much various types of treatments had helped them with back pain, neck pain, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, digestive problems, depression, anxiety, headaches, insomnia, colds & flu, and allergies [1].More than 35,000 people responded to the survey. For ten of these conditions, prescription medication was rated best, but for back and neck pain, chiropractic scored highest. The magazine’s editors noted that the survey data might not represent the experiences of the general population, did not take the placebo effect into account. That’s correct—though incomplete—but in a “User’s Guide” that accompanied the tabulations, the magazine gave this advice: Chiropractic …
Continue Reading >A Brief look at a Subluxation-Based Practice-Building Script
Robert Braile, D.C., maintains a Web site “dedicated to spreading the word of chiropractic worldwide.” He apparently believes that everyone needs periodic spinal evaluations and “adjustments.” His home page proudly displays a mission statement: I am a chiropractor. Today, I will love everyone, serve everyone, and give the message of chiropractic to everyone I contact. Every man, woman and child needs my help today, in becoming and remaining subluxation free. At no time today, will I withhold the truth of chiropractic for fear of rejection. Today, I am an expert at correcting subluxations. I will correct subluxations on everyone I care for. When I do this, the power within them, heals them, every time without exception. I CAN help everyone I see Today. Today, I ask for …
Continue Reading >C.J. Mertz and “The World’s Best Kept Health Secret”
C.J. Mertz, D,.C., president of the International Chiropractic Association, wants to turn thousands of doctors into published book authors [1]. Teaming with Best Seller Publishing, he has developed a paperback book, The World’s Best Kept Health Secret Revealed, which contains 56 chapters written by a total of 64 chiropractors. Early in 2004, the publisher’s Web site indicated that chiropractors could buy into the program for “as little as $997,” which would cover professional editing of their chapter, as well as a print run of 400 books. According to an article in The Chiropractic Journal (a newspaper), the book “has sold 25,000 copies and gained bookstore acceptance prior to printing [1]. I assume that all or nearly all of the purchases were made by the chapter …
Continue Reading >Silly Chiropractic Advice about Obesity Prevention
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) likes to pretend that the scope of chiropractic is very broad and that its members are qualified to play a major role in preventive public health. On April 7, 2003, in line with this objective, the ACA issued a a news release through PRNewswire that provided tips for lifestyle and dietary changes and suggested that chiropractors be used for nutritional advice. Here is the ACA release with my comments added in boldface red type. American Chiropractic Association Responds to Epidemic of Obesity in the United States ACA is Official Partner in National Public Health Week The American Chiropractic Association ACA and public health officials across the country are using National Public Health Week, April 7-13, to call attention to the …
Continue Reading >Analysis of a Misleading Chiropractic Article in a Major Medical Journal
In 2001, the highly respected Annals of Internal Medicine began publishing a long series of invited papers to inform physicians about “complementary and alternative medicine” (“CAM”) The series editor is David Eisenberg, M.D., whose current professional career depends upon his ability to promote interest in “CAM” methods. “Chiropractic: A Profession at the Crossroads of Mainstream and Alternative Medicine,” which the Annals published on February 5, 2002, is a one-sided puff piece written by two prominent chiropractors. Dr. Meeker is director of research at Palmer College of Chiropractic. Dr. Haldeman is a third-generation chiropractor who is associate clinical professor of neurology at the University of California-Irvine and an adjunct professor at Los Angeles Chiropractic College. Imagine for a moment that you were asked to write an …
Continue Reading >Views of ACA Council on Nutrition President (1992)
What is the Council on Nutrition? Is it a policy-making body? What does it do exactly? There is two parts to the Council, in one sense, that are separate bodies. There is the Council on Nutrition; its main goal is to educate chiropractors in ongoing nutrition services. The Council on Nutrition also helps … Again the main thrust is to become an educative body. There are position papers that have been written. The most recent one is the use of weight-loss programs in the chiropractor’s office, saying that if done properly after a nutritional workup, it’s an appropriate thing for a chiropractor to do. There was a position paper done a couple of years ago on cytotoxic testing, saying that what’s out in the literature …
Continue Reading >Chiropractic Response to Terrorism: Have Your Spine Adjusted
Eric Plasker, D.C., a Life University graduate who practices in Marietta, Georgia, is an aggressive promoter of subluxation-based chiropractic. For several years, he has been marketing practice-building programs geared toward persuading people to have periodic checkups and spinal adjustments throughout life. Plasker asserts that “everyone on this planet should have access to chiropractic from the time they are born until the time they draw their last breath!” [1] He opposes childhood immunization and links from his Web site to a major anti-immunization site. A few years ago, Plasker founded the Traumatic Brain Syndrome Research Foundation to investigate his contention that “traumatic birth may result in vertebral subluxation in the newborn.” He has expressed the hope that the foundation can establish protocols and develop research that …
Continue Reading >The Job Interview I Didn’t Have
(Name Withheld By Request) One the morning of July 9, 2001, I was supposed to be interviewed for a job as receptionist/chiropractic assistant. One evening during the previous week, after reading my resumé, the doctor had phoned me to set up this appointment. Although he talked on and on about what was expected of the person hired, there was one thing he left out. When I arrived at 9:15 — 15 minutes early — I was given a clipboard with several sheets of paper attached. I was instructed to read the first sheet and if I had no objections to fill out the remaining sheets. The first sheet had a clause that read, “All employees will be examined, x-rayed, and manipulated in order to know …
Continue Reading >
