National Health Federation

The National Health Federation is an international consumer education, health freedom, non-profit organization working to protect individuals' rights to choose to consume healthy food, take Dietary supplements, and use alternative therapies without government restrictions. With a worldwide consumer membership and a Board of Governors and Advisory Board containing representatives from 6 different countries, the Federation is unique as being the only consumer health freedom organization in the world to enjoy official observer status (able to speak out for health freedom) at meetings of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the highest international body on food standards. Based in California, in the United States, the Federation's Board members include medical doctors, scientists, therapists and consumer advocates of natural health.

History

The National Health Federation was founded by Fred Hart in 1955 and is the World’s oldest health freedom organization. Hart’s decision to found the organization was borne out of his frustration and anger at orthodox medicine having deprived him of the right to have his wife, Eva, a victim of breast cancer, treated by an alternative form of medicine, and at the United States Food and Drug Administration having declaring it illegal for health food stores to give away, lend or sell books and reprints to inform customers about their products.

Over the years the Federation has engaged itself in a wide variety of natural health-related campaigns. In the 1950s, for example, it fought and won the battle for mandatory inspection of poultry, whilst in the 1960s it coordinated a major drive to help chiropractors become legally licensed in over 40 states in the United States. By the 1970s it was waging very successful campaigns against fluoridation and in the 1980s it pushed through legislative recognition of acupuncture in the United States.

In the 1990s, the Federation lobbied to pass the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). It was due in no small part to its actions that DSHEA eventually passed by the United States Congress in 1994. The organization also fought malathion spraying, promoted public education on the dangers of vaccinations, and continued fighting the fluoridation battle during this period.

In recent years the Federation’s activities have become more international in scope and it has consequently become one of the most prominent health freedom organizations working to prevent the ongoing attempts by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to restrict the freedom of consumers to take vitamins and minerals and have access to natural health information. The only consumer health-freedom organization in the world to enjoy official observer status (able to speak out for health freedom) at Codex meetings, the Federation regularly sends delegations to attend, speak out at and report on Codex meetings. It also regularly submits written comments to Codex in response to the Commission’s official circular letters. Nevertheless, despite its increasingly global focus, the Federation has continued to take action to oppose any legislation within the United States that it perceives to threaten consumer access to healthy food, dietary supplements and alternative therapies.

Officers

The President of the Federation is Scott Tips, who also acts as its Treasurer. A California-licensed attorney, he was admitted to the California Bar in 1980 and has specialized since 1983 in food-and-drug law and trademark law, but also engages in business litigation, general business law, and nonprofit organizations, with an international clientele. Since 1989, Mr. Tips has also been the General Counsel for the Federation. A legal columnist, he also writes a monthly column for Whole Foods Magazine called Legal Tips, a column he started in 1984.

The Federation’s Vice-President is James R. Privitera, M.D.. In 1967, after graduating with his M.D. degree from the Creighton University School of Medicine, in Omaha, Nebraska, he accepted a one-year internship in Internal Medicine at Providence Hospital in Seattle, Washington.  The following year he was a resident in Internal Medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco, California. Dr. Privitera then undertook a Clinical Fellowship in Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California from 1969 to 1970.  After finishing there in 1970, he then set up his own private practice in Covina, California, where he specializes in, among other things, allergy and nutrition.

The Chairman of the Federation is Paul Anthony Taylor, whose background is in the music industry, working as a musician with artists including Sir Paul McCartney and Bill Withers. Mr. Taylor has attended numerous Codex Alimentarius meetings and is quite familiar with its structure, organization, and operating methods. He has also authored many articles on the subject of health, health freedom, and Codex.

The Federation’s Vice-Chairman is Dr. Murray Susser. A fighter pilot for five-and-a-half years in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Susser flew F102A all-weather interceptors during the height of the cold war.  He then served in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard for three years while taking pre-med courses at the University of Pittsburgh.  He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1966.

The Secretary of the Federation is Sylvia Kresevich Provenza, who also serves as president of its Pittsburgh-Western Pennsylvania Chapter. Mrs. Provenza is one of the most active Board members for acquiring new members for the organization.

Chapters

The Federation has had groups of its members formed into local Chapters since the late 1950s. Current Chapters include the Pittsburgh-Western Pennsylvania Chapter and the Southern Maine Chapter.

NHF Health Expos

Through many different means, the National Health Federation has been educating the public on natural-health and health-freedom issues for decades.  It has especially endeared itself to the public with its excellent health conventions held across the United States.  From NHF booths in smaller health expos to the larger, 3-day, 50-speakers and thousands-of-attendees conventions, the NHF has been at the forefront of holding successful, well-attended conventions catering to the alternative healthcare community.

Stated aims of the National Health Federation

The National Health Federation believes that the following rights and freedoms are basic to all individuals:

1. The right to control our own bodies - to decide what food, drink, and medicines to take and use, and what food, drink, and medicines not to take.

2. The right to supplement our diets with vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and enzymes without government restrictions.

3. The right to receive alternative medicine and treatments (such as those provided by chiropractors, acupuncturists, naturopathic doctors, massage therapists, and clinical nutritionists) without government restrictions.

4. The right of alternative medical practitioners to determine and use those treatments best suited for their patients without government restrictions.

5. The right of manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements to provide truthful research and label information about the benefits of supplements and other health aids.

6. The right to discuss and disseminate truthful natural-health information. The FDA, the FTC, and other government agencies should not be allowed to prevent health organizations such as the National Health Federation from disseminating this vital information.

7. Freedom from international Codex Alimentarius Commission standards that would greatly restrict all of the above rights on behalf of a small elite that has gained control of governmental health agencies. We view this and other governmental actions as the greatest threats to our health freedom today.

8. The freedom to eat clean, fresh food without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, poisons, or irradiation.

9. The right to breathe clean air and to drink water free of harmful chemicals such as fluoride.

10. The right to protect ourselves and our children from unnecessary and often dangerous, childhood vaccines.

11. The right of our military men and women to refuse to submit to mandatory vaccines such as anthrax.

12. The right to keep our medical records private and confidential.

Health Freedom News

Health Freedom News is the Federation’s quarterly magazine. It is edited by Scott Tips. First published in June 1982, the magazine is a continuation of earlier journals of the Federation, with different names (e.g., Public Scrutiny), dating back to the 1950s. Various topics and subjects are covered in each of the issues, including but not limited to nutrition, alternative forms of healthcare and well-being, and health-freedom.

Further Reading

• American Council on Science and Health Special Report: The Unhealthy Alliance by Stephen Barrett, M.D.
• The Medical Messiahs: A Social History of Health Quackery in Twentieth-Century America James Harvey Young, PhD
• The Rise and Fall of Laetrile Benjamin Wilson, M.D.

External links

• National Health Federation website
• Be wary of the NHF – a critical view from Quackwatch