Recently, many residents of New Jersey received petitions to protest the passage of two bills: one which will prevent holistic health counselors and nutritionists from conducting their business, the other, targeted at Yoga practitioners that will severely strain the way they conduct their business.
Ironically, these bills are being proposed at a time when many Americans, New Jerseyans included, are losing work or are in tenuous situations of losing jobs and when news reports are noting, separately, adult onset diabetes because of
obesity doubled over the previous decade and at least 72 million working age adults are in
medical debt or unable to pay for treatment for chronic illness because of
rising drug costs and co-pay.
If and when passed, the Nutrition and Dietitian Licensing Act, (NJ Bill A2933/S1941) gives unprecedented power to the
ADA, an organization that is funded, among others, by The Coca Cola Company, Pepsico, General Mills, Kellogs, Cargill and Mars Inc., Glaxo Smith Kline and J&J
Holistic practitioners and nutritionists (even those with several advanced degrees and experience in their field) who advocate whole foods will be barred from providing one on one or group counseling, advice and education on nutrition, diets, foods and health supplements. The Act will give complete authority to dietitians registered by the ADA to determine what constitutes healthy diets and healthful eating for New Jersey residents including in school lunch programs, senior centers and nursing homes.
Those who advocate whole foods and holistic nutrition will be superseded by those who are implicitly
backed by processed foods and beverage companies and pharmaceuticals like Glaxo Smith Kline who hold patents on the diabetes drug, Avandia, and the HFA asthma inhaler Advair. See related article on
Externalizing the cost of cheap food
The other, more recent petition, protests The Fitness Professionals Licensing Act (
S 2164) that will impact Yoga/Pilates instructors among others. The bill, being presented as getting access to yoga and other alternative practices for the purposes of standardizing it for health insurance purposes, gives unlimited regulatory potential to the state and a body that has little knowledge of such systems.
If enacted, S2164 will have yoga instructors spending more money on 300 hours of government mandated classes that will supersede the rigorous 200 hours of RYT training set down by the International Yoga Alliance. The licensing, which will be renewed every two years for a fee, will include proving the instructor or professional is of 'good moral character', completing an unpaid internship of 50 hours and passing exams set down by a Governor appointed Board.
While the costs of such 'training' and licensing are yet unknown, those who protest this bill say it will prohibit qualified people from providing yoga and similar mind-body services and the cost of classes will prohibit New Jersey residents from pursuing programs that will benefit them.
Americans spend up to 80% of their health care dollars on treating chronic illness like obesity, adult onset of diabetes, asthma, hypertension and depression. Research has shown many, if not all, chronic ailments can be treated or, at the very least, managed effectively with the type of counseling, advice and education programs that are provided by holistic practitioners and yoga teachers.
Yoga and hypertension.
Yoga and depression.
If Governor Corzine is trying to balance the NJ budget, shouldn't the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs go after large corporations, with which he is so familiar, instead of doing it on the backs of small and individual proprietary service businesses which are the backbone of the state economy? And, how does it help the economy to lose the taxable income of holistic practitioners and nutritionists, many of whom are women who support themselves and their families on their business?
Is this where government should regulate?
For more information and petitions visit:
Nutrition and Dietitian Licensing Act The Fitness Professionals Licensing Act