here, I cite from a recent post by AANP President Cronin on their blog "Physicians Who Listen" [see 001., below]; then, I wonder if they're comprehensively listening to ACTUAL WELL-SETTLED SCIENCE based on the contents of an earlier AANP blog post [see 002., below]:
001. ND Michael Cronin, current AANP President and a 1980 NCNM graduate, writes in "Three and a Half Months In" (2012-04-19) [vsc 2012-04-20]:
"[regarding] the second quarter of 2012 […] the legislative committee chaired by Lorilee Shoenbeck, ND, Vermont [here's her practice], has been busy working with our lobbyists and staff. They are all working with AANP staff to organize the DC FLI [here] and the training provided to ND’s at the event. This year AANP will offer 2-tiered 101 and 201/301 legislative training. Our priority is to protect several key provisions of the Affordable Care Act including section 2706 on non-discrimination in health care […] the DC FLI participants will be fortified with a new list of the 10 most relevant scientific studies on naturopathic medicine to be used in our Capitol Hill visits. The scientific affairs committee, chaired by Michelle Simon, ND, Seattle [here's her practice], has developed the list […] another top-ten list is being developed for use in licensed and unlicensed state efforts."
Note: ah, me thinks science cloaks the AANP's political Trojan Horse! I'm guessing that 'non-scientific' could also be a synonym for "non-discriminatory"! And AANP is so good at posing the non-scientific as science: proclaiming such things as naturopathy being a "branch of medical science" [here, add '.pdf' to the file's title after downloading, as that's what it is]. They are being VERY SELECTIVE when it comes to 'the science that supports naturopathy', and I disagree: I believe in a comprehensive assessment, not just cherry-picking, for the most truthful of scientific assessments of 'the essentially naturopathic.' Therein, lets go to that most essential of naturopathic essentials, their central science-ejected belief, by way of AANP itself.
002. naturopathy's essential vitalism:
002.a. this one particular AANP post caught my eye, "Letting Nature Heal" (2009-08-11) by ND Schor [an NCNM graduate], who asks:
"we are we not supposed to be naturopaths and is not our goal supposed to be to stimulate the vital force or the vis medicatrix naturae?"
Note: he got an AANP award for this false belief in what I'll term physiological vitalism. His bio. page states:
"in the Summer of 2008, Dr Schor became the first recipient of the Vis Award presented to him by Lise Alschuler, president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians."
002.b. and ND Schor hosts a page titled "The Vis Award" which states:
"at the 2008 annual convention of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Dr. Jacob Schor was both surprised and honored by his colleagues as the first recipient of the Vis Award [...for] commitment to living and practicing naturopathic medicine in accordance to what is called the 'vis medicatrix naturae', or healing force of nature. The vis medicatrix naturae, or vis, [yes, they are on a first-name basis with a figmentation] is one of the fundamental principles that guides and distinguishes the practice of naturopathic medicine. The vis is the belief [in the 'faith' context of belief, as in Tooth Fairy beliefs] that every living being contains a 'life force'. When this force [etc....] Dr. Schor was selected as the first recipient of this award."
Note: now, it doesn't take much to find out the scientific consensus on such physiological vitalism. It's written into college science undergraduate textbooks...as science-exterior! So, I'm not sure how much cherry-picking it takes to get a list of science to support nonscience...but it seems an ABSURD enterprise best left to the ignorant and the thick-headed sectarian-manipulative. I at times wonder how 'unwashed' one feels in that endeavor.
003. overall note:
ND Cronin tells us on his bio. page he's "founder and president, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine." Now, I remember going to a presentation by him in Stamford, CT in the mid-to-late 1990s when I was looking for a doctoral medical science program to attend, while a graduate student at New York University at the time. I fell under their spell, I must say unfortunately, due to that presentation, and eventually did the science pre-requisites to attend the University of Bridgeport's College of Naturopathic Medicine, diverting myself from the Masters program I was in. I was then rather naive about naturopathy: I thought their labels were true. Touching on his alma mater [and Schor's], NCNM, to this day you can still find them stating that they are science-vetted while listing within their 'essentially naturopathic' details....the profoundly science-ejected [ISYN].
