The Center For Inquiry (CFI) Opposition Petition to the 2026 Naturopathy Licensure Bill

here, civic engagement!

001. CFI's Azhar Majeed writes in "Florida: Urge Your Governor to Veto Pro-Naturopathy Legislation"  which I'll paraphrase via Perplexity:

Action Alert: Florida Naturopathy Bill

Advocacy Request: The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is calling on Florida residents to contact Governor Ron DeSantis and request that he reject Senate Bill 688, which would authorize naturopathic practice in the state.

CFI's Position: The organization opposes S. 688 because it would permit naturopathy to be practiced throughout Florida with minimal restrictions, despite concerns about its scientific validity. According to CFI, naturopathy doesn't meet evidence-based medical standards and is rejected by mainstream medical experts due to its reliance on treatments that lack scientific support, including energy-based therapies and homeopathic products.

Specific Safety Concerns: CFI has worked for years to inform legislators about risks associated with naturopathy. A particular concern involves vaccine-skeptical views held by many naturopaths, who may promote "nosodes" as vaccine alternatives. CFI argues this misinformation poses serious public health risks, especially given current anti-vaccine messaging from federal sources and ongoing measles outbreaks.

Bill Status and Provisions: Despite these concerns, Florida's legislature has passed S. 688, which would overturn a prohibition on naturopathy that has existed since 1959. The bill authorizes a wide range of naturopathic interventions, including herbal and fungal preparations, nutritional supplements, homeopathic products, "lifestyle medicine," and natural substances, aligned with naturopathic training standards.

Educational Concerns: CFI contends the bill overlooks significant gaps in naturopathic education compared to conventional medical training, which includes medical school, clinical rotations, and residency. This educational difference may leave naturopaths unprepared to recognize potentially dangerous drug interactions, putting patients at risk.

Regulatory Structure Issues: S. 688 establishes a Board of Naturopathic Medicine with seven members, four of whom must be "naturopathic doctors." CFI argues this majority ensures self-regulation that will likely result in permissive oversight and weak enforcement.

Call to Action: With the bill advancing to Governor DeSantis's desk, CFI urges Florida supporters to contact the governor's office and clearly express opposition to allowing naturopathic practice in the state.

Signed by Azhar Majeed, Director of Government Affairs and Policy

 ***And there is an engagement form at the bottom.  I’m not a Florida resident so I'm encouraging Florida residents to engage through either this form or directly through their representatives / legislature.

002. now, I'm in a State with about 100 years of naturopathy legislative permission.  It is, by nature [pun alert!] erosive and retrograde in so many ways.  My analyses of what NDs are doing here in Connecticut, completed just this 2026 based on their practices' language, can be summed up with this statement [from my recent 2026 Final Report titled "Connecticut Naturopathic Licensure Analysis: Cullen-Snyder Framework Applied to Chapter 373 and Public Act 14- 231"]:

The Cullen-Snyder Framework (v.1.0) Application #007 – "Final Report" from 2026 CT NDs Data Set Processes

here, I'll share the report that resulted from the processes unleashed upon the 2026 CT NDs data set [data set is here] as detailed in the Naturocrit Podcast Episode 017 as CSF #007:

001. as you will find uploaded to archive.org as "Cullen-Snyder Framework - 2026 Licensed Connecticut Naturopathy Final Report", it goes like this:

"Connecticut Naturopathic Licensure Analysis: Cullen-Snyder Framework Applied to Chapter 373 and Public Act 14-231

Completed: January 2026

---

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 373, as modernized by Public Act 14-231, establishes a legal and regulatory framework that structurally enables licensed naturopathic physicians (NDs) to present pseudoscientific practices as state-recognized healthcare. When analyzed through the Cullen-Snyder Framework (CSF)—which integrates critical epistemology (Cullen) and political philosophy on freedom (Snyder)—this licensure law produces systematic harms across both epistemic and freedom-based dimensions that harm individual patients and corrode public health institutions[1][2].

This report:

1. Applies the Cullen-Snyder Framework to Connecticut's ND licensure law and documented ND practices
2. Details concrete harms enabled by Chapter 373 and PA 14-231, organized by CSF dimensions
3. Constitutes a profile of Connecticut's revealed state values and postures regarding naturopathy licensure, showing how statutory choices and regulatory allowances reflect particular institutional commitments to legitimizing non-evidence-based practices
4. Provides a template for legislative testimony, regulatory rulemaking, and policy advocacy

The Naturocrit Podcast - Episode 017e [s02e07e] - Script & Annotations [3 of 3]

This is the script, hypertext links, and notes for the five-part Naturocrit Podcast Episode 017, aka s02e07, titled “A CSF Framework Evaluative Analysis of 107 Licensed Connecticut Naturopaths’ Practices in Relation to Science, Ethics, Commerce, and Freedom.”

001. Standard Introduction: 

Standard Introduction

Welcome to, as that robot voice says, The Naturocrit Podcast, and thank you for boldly listening.

What ARE we even talking about?

Well, this podcast series is my take on naturopathic medicine, an area I've been studying for about thirty-four years, including my time in so-called 'scientific nonsectarian naturopathic medical school'.

My approach is a pairing of scientific skepticism and a deep knowledge of naturopathy's intimate details.

In previous episodes of this series, I established that naturopathy is, essentially, a kind of knowledge blending, misrepresentation, and irrationality.

I have termed naturopathy both 'an epistemic conflation falsely posing itself as an epistemic delineation' and 'the naturopathillogical':

the science-exterior is mixed with what is scientific, then that whole muddle is absurdly claimed to be science as an entire category, while particular sectarian science-ejected oath-obligations and -requirements are coded or camouflaged, therein effectively disguising naturopathy's system of beliefs in public view.

Naturopathy's ultimate achievement is a profound erosion of scientific integrity and freedom of belief packaged in the marketing veneers "natural, holistic, integrative and alternative" and improperly embedded in the academic category "science".

002. Main text:

(continued) Conclusion: Legislators, the AG, and Law Infractions

[as posed by a not-a-lawyer]

The Naturocrit Podcast - Episode 017e [s02e07e] - Script & Annotations [2 of 3]

This is the script, hypertext links, and notes for the five-part Naturocrit Podcast Episode 017, aka s02e07, titled “A CSF Framework Evaluative Analysis of 107 Licensed Connecticut Naturopaths’ Practices in Relation to Science, Ethics, Commerce, and Freedom.”

001. Standard Introduction: 

Standard Introduction

Welcome to, as that robot voice says, The Naturocrit Podcast, and thank you for boldly listening.

What ARE we even talking about?

Well, this podcast series is my take on naturopathic medicine, an area I've been studying for about thirty-four years, including my time in so-called 'scientific nonsectarian naturopathic medical school'.

My approach is a pairing of scientific skepticism and a deep knowledge of naturopathy's intimate details.

In previous episodes of this series, I established that naturopathy is, essentially, a kind of knowledge blending, misrepresentation, and irrationality.

I have termed naturopathy both 'an epistemic conflation falsely posing itself as an epistemic delineation' and 'the naturopathillogical':

the science-exterior is mixed with what is scientific, then that whole muddle is absurdly claimed to be science as an entire category, while particular sectarian science-ejected oath-obligations and -requirements are coded or camouflaged, therein effectively disguising naturopathy's system of beliefs in public view.

Naturopathy's ultimate achievement is a profound erosion of scientific integrity and freedom of belief packaged in the marketing veneers "natural, holistic, integrative and alternative" and improperly embedded in the academic category "science".

002. Main text:

(continued) Conclusion: Thomas Paine, the Founding Fathers,

and the Connecticut State Constitution