The American Dietetic Association, also known as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, is feeling extremely threatened these days and apparently has for quite some time.
With it’s nutritional advice increasingly being ignored and even laughed at by a public that is waking up to the fact that its recommendations run completely contrary to the diets of healthy, disease free Traditional Cultures and hence will not help them lose weight, control blood sugar, and prevent cancer and heart disease, the ADA is resorting to illegal black hat tactics to stifle the competition.
The first shot across the bow resulted in the attempted muzzling of blogger Steve Cooksey by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition. Board censors issued a list of demands to Cooksey in a nineteen page, manifesto style letter which included a markup of his own blog in handwritten red pen like a high school term paper. He was told he must comply with the Board’s demands or else face up to a month and a half in prison.
Prison – for blogging? America, Land of the Free Muzzled and Home of the Brave Fearful?
Now, leaked documents by outraged members of the American Dietetic Association itself have blown the lid off the nationwide attempt by the ADA to corner the market in health and nutritional advice.
In an article written by Michael Ellsberg of Forbes magazine earlier this week, Ellsberg quotes from these leaked documents which show without a shadow of a doubt that the ADA:
“Openly discusses creating and using state boards of dietetics/nutrition (including in NC and in every other state in the union) for the express purpose of limiting market competition for its Registered Dietitian members.”
“Openly discusses a nation-wide plan of surveilling and reporting private citizens, and particularly all competitors on the market for nutrition counseling, for “harming the public” by providing nutrition information/advice/counseling without a license–through exactly the same means by which Cooksey was reported to the NC Board. Again, for the explicit purpose of limiting marketplace competition.“
The smoking gun document leaked by the ADAs own members is published on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health, an organization highly critical of the ADA.
In essence, this document discusses, complete with color coded charts, how the ADA can work across all 50 states in order to support the creation of licensure laws and dietetics boards similar to that of North Carolina in order to limit competition and create an ADA monopoly on nutritional advice.
Spy for the ADA and Win a Free Conference Registration!
A second internal ADA document leaked by a disgusted member described tactics for spying on those perceived by the ADA as competitors in the field of nutritional counseling, who are arrogantly referred to as “uneducated wannabees”.
There is even a “Documentation of Harm Contest” (page 2) contained in the brochure for the Michigan Dietetic Association’s 2006 Conference in which attendees are told that they can win a free conference registration if they turn in the most information about unlicensed people who provide nutritional advice to the public. This information would be used by the State Board of Dietetics and Nutrition to potentially infringe upon these people’s right to free speech a la Steve Cooksey.
The actual Documentation of Harm Form can be downloaded and viewed from the Forbes magazine website.
Milton Friedman, author of Free to Choose and economist extraordinaire, once wrote that the public rarely if ever exhorts legislative pressure to license an occupation as a result of harm that has been done.
Au contraire. Friedman notes that the forces for licensure nearly always come from members of the occupation itself seeking to establish monopolistic control.
These leaked documents of the American Dietetic Association illustrate the perfect example of exactly that to which Mr. Friedman referred.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
nice post. neat little video
In general, if someone claims to be an RD I think they are to be devoutly ignored. They are sure to believe that LOW FAT is good. Each time a news article comes out saying that studies show that Atkins dieters lose more weight, keep it off, and have better lab reports, the reporter interviews an RD who says “yes, but WHOLE GRAINS……..blah blah blah.” I.E., “Don’t confuse me with facts.”