Against allopathy Alternative medicine |
Clinically unproven |
Woo-meisters |
The National Health Federation is an advocacy group in the United States founded in 1955. They are based in Monrovia, California and have in recent years gone international with the focus and scope of their activism, in part over opposition to attempts to harmonize vitamin and herbal supplement regulations around the world, which they see as a threat to "health freedom". Their leadership is a "who's who" of alternative medicine practitioners and advocates, many of whom have had legal brushes with the Food and Drug Administration and state regulatory agencies.
In general the NHF lobbies for removal of restrictions on any and all alternative health treatments, including those deemed outright quackery. They do this in the name of promoting consumer freedom of choice and open competition in the market. They have also taken up the causes of vaccine hysteria, opposition to water fluoridation (a priority for them from 1974-1980 when John Yiamouyiannis was with the NHF), and promotion of Laetrile as a cancer treatment (a priority for them circa 1978-1982). According to their website, they spearheaded the legal recognition of chiropractic in the 1960s and acupuncture in the 1980s.
Their website sells a number of books by authors like Kevin Trudeau promoting alternative health remedies. Past leadership includes Maureen Kennedy Salaman (also of Liberty Lobby), Dr. Robert Atkins (of low-carb diet fame), and Dr. Jonathan Wright (who also founded a tongue-in-cheek group called the American Quack Association).