A quick google survey reveals many sites purporting, proposing, and pursuing health freedom. How do they define health freedom?
www.healthfreedom.com – is a web page that consist of an email signup page, which dies if you enter your name and email address? What’s up?
The American Association for Health Freedom (www.healthfreedom.net as well as www.healthfreedom.org) has become the Alliance for Natural Health - USA. Eg. Health Freedom is freedom to sell health (and by extension, health freedom is freedom to make health purchases).
They say: The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA)*, is part of an international organization dedicated to promoting sustainable health and freedom of choice in healthcare through good science and good law.
The Alliance for Natural Health says: The ANH is an internationally-active, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation, based in the UK, that is working to help positively shape the regulatory and scientific framework affecting natural health in order to develop more sustainable, natural and biologically-compatible approaches to healthcare.
What is Health Freedom?
Health Freedom New Zealand, lists several international Health Freedom sites at: http://healthfreedom.co.nz/health-freedom-global.html which range from
- the Alliance for Natural Health,
- to the Canadian Red Umbrella Ladies - www.theredumbrellas.com – “We are among 3000 Canadians who use a high potency vitamin and mineral supplement for the treatment of Bipolar Affective Disorder. The supplement, called Empowerplus has allowed us or a loved one to completely control the symptoms of manic depression and has facilitated a return to a normal, healthy life. All without the well-documented side effects of psychotropic drugs. Many of us have resolved our illness with Empowerplus while under the supervision of our doctors.”.
Wikki says: “The term health freedom movement is used to describe the loose coalition of organizations, consumers, activists, alternative medicine practitioners and producers of products around the world who are campaigning for unhindered freedom of choice in healthcare. The movement is critical of the pharmaceutical industry and medical regulators, and uses the term "health freedom" as a catch phrase to convey its message.”
Why me?
I believe in Personal Health Freedom.
The Institute for Health Freedom http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/ , says: “The Institute for Health Freedom was established in 1996 to bring the issues of personal health freedom to the forefront of America's health policy debate. Our mission is to present the ethical and economic case for strengthening personal "health freedom," defined as:
The freedom to choose one's health care providers and treatments, and to maintain confidential relationships with one's providers, without interference from government or private third parties.
The Institute does not endorse any health care treatment, product, provider, or organization. Rather, the Institute for Health Freedom is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center—a Washington-based "think tank."
This is closer to my objectives, but still missing much that I believe is ‘personal health freedom’. First of all, it has a decidedly ‘born in the USA approach’.
I understand that it is important to ‘act locally’, but believe it is also important to ‘think globally’.
What is health freedom? What is health? What is freedom? What is ‘personal health freedom’. Today, we have many questions, and too few answers.
Tracy is the author of two book about healthicine: