Editing Naturopathy (section)

==== Political activity in the United States ====
Naturopathic practitioners affiliated with the CNME-accredited schools lobby state, provincial, and federal governments for medical licensure and participation in social health programs.<ref name="Robins" /><ref name="Weeks2016" /> The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians represents licensed naturopaths in the United States;<ref name="Robins" /> the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors represents licensed naturopaths in Canada.<ref name="Weeks2016">{{cite news|vauthors=Carly W|title=Are we being served by the regulation of naturopaths? Not if patients are still being misled|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/canadian-naturopaths-need-to-follow-the-rules-if-they-want-regulation/article29785140/|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|access-date=23 July 2016|date=29 April 2016|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114003753/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/canadian-naturopaths-need-to-follow-the-rules-if-they-want-regulation/article29785140/|url-status=live}}</ref> Naturopathic lobbying efforts are funded by vitamin and supplement makers<ref name="Robins" /> and focus on portraying naturopathic education as comparable to [[medical education]] received by [[physicians]] and on having high professional standards.<ref name="Weeks2016" /><ref name="NDMDCA">{{cite news|title=ND vs MD -- Battle Lines Drawn in California|url=http://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/workforce/51917|access-date=24 July 2016|date=3 June 2015|archive-date=July 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725123138/http://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/workforce/51917|url-status=live}}</ref> Medical societies and advocacy groups dispute these claims by citing evidence of licensed naturopathic practitioners using pseudoscientific methods without a sound evidence basis and lacking adequate clinical training to diagnose and treat disease competently according to the [[standard of care]].<ref name="Robins" /><ref name="NDMDCA" /><ref name="Frosch2011">{{cite news|vauthors=Frosch D|title=Licensing Naturopaths Incites Debate in Colorado|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/health/22license.html?_r=0|access-date=24 July 2016|work=The New York Times|date=21 February 2011|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202003854/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/health/22license.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lambeck">{{cite news|vauthors=Lambeck L|title=New law could let Connecticut naturopathic physicians write prescriptions|url=http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-law-could-let-Connecticut-naturopathic-7942677.php|access-date=25 July 2016|work=Connecticut Post|date=24 May 2016|archive-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828130127/http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-law-could-let-Connecticut-naturopathic-7942677.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Jann Bellamy has characterized the process by which naturopathic practitioners and other practitioners of pseudoscience convince lawmakers to provide them with medical licenses as "legislative alchemy".<ref name="Bellamy2014">{{cite web|vauthors=Bellamy J|title=Legislative Alchemy 2014 (so far)|url=https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/legislative-alchemy-2014-so-far/|website=[[Science-Based Medicine]]|access-date=21 July 2016|date=15 May 2014|archive-date=February 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220135945/https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/legislative-alchemy-2014-so-far/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since 2005, the [[Massachusetts Medical Society]] has opposed licensure based on concerns that NDs are not required to participate in residency and concerns that the practices of naturopaths included many "erroneous and potentially dangerous claims".<ref name="MassMed2005">{{cite web |first= <!-- contact not author Richard P. --> |last= <!-- contact not author Gulla --> |title= Massachusetts Medical Society Testifies in Opposition to Licensing Naturopaths |date= May 11, 2005 |publisher= [[Massachusetts Medical Society]] |url= http://www.massmed.org/AM/PrinterTemplate.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=12458&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm |access-date= 2009-04-17 |archive-date= 2011-07-16 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716132319/http://www.massmed.org/AM/PrinterTemplate.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=12458&TEMPLATE=%2FCM%2FContentDisplay.cfm |url-status= dead }}</ref> The Massachusetts Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners rejected their concerns and recommended licensure.<ref name="MassCtte">{{cite web |title=Majority Report of the Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners: A Report to the Legislature |date=January 2002 |author=The Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners |publisher=Massachusetts: The Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners |url=http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Naturopathy/majority.pdf |access-date=2010-11-10 |archive-date=January 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121012802/http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Naturopathy/majority.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Massachusetts Medical Society states:<ref name="MMStestimony2015" />

{{Blockquote|Naturopathic medical school is not a medical school in anything but the appropriation of the word medical. Naturopathy is not a branch of medicine. It is a hodge podge of nutritional advice, home remedies and discredited treatments ... Naturopathic colleges claim accreditation but follow a true "alternative" accreditation method that is virtually meaningless. They are not accredited by the same bodies that accredit real medical schools and while some courses have similar titles to the curricula of legitimate medical schools the content is completely different.|author=|title=|source=}}

In 2015, a former naturopathic doctor, Britt Marie Hermes, who graduated from [[Bastyr University]] and practiced as a licensed ND in [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Arizona]], began advocating against naturopathic medicine.<ref name="HermesSI2020">{{cite journal | vauthors = Hermes B |title=Beware the Naturopathic Cancer Quack |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=April 2020 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=38–44 |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/03/beware-the-naturopathic-cancer-quack/ }}</ref><ref name="Senapathy2016">{{cite news| vauthors = Senapathy K |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kavinsenapathy/2016/05/31/why-is-big-naturopathy-afraid-of-this-lone-whistleblower|title=Why Is Big Naturopathy Afraid Of This Lone Whistleblower?|date=2016-05-31|work=Forbes|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200322212737/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kavinsenapathy/2016/05/31/why-is-big-naturopathy-afraid-of-this-lone-whistleblower/%233d54f5de7ee4|archive-date=March 22, 2020|location=US|access-date=September 5, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Belluz2015">{{cite news|vauthors=Belluz J|author-link=Julia Belluz|title=Why one naturopath quit after watching her peers treat cancer patients|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/9/2/9248713/britt-hermes|work=Vox|date=2 September 2015|access-date=June 13, 2017|archive-date=October 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014084313/https://www.vox.com/2015/9/2/9248713/britt-hermes|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to opposing further licensure, she believes that NDs should not be allowed to use the titles "doctor" or "physician",<ref name="Senapathy2016" /> and be barred from treating children.<ref name="Brown2016">{{cite news |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] |author=Jim Brown |title=Former naturopathic doctor calls for an end to naturopathic pediatrics |work=The 180 |date=10 April 2016 |url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/a-former-naturopath-speaks-out-why-precarious-work-can-be-good-and-will-assisted-death-come-to-rural-canada-1.3525870/former-naturopathic-doctor-calls-for-an-end-to-naturopathic-pediatrics-1.3525946 |access-date=June 8, 2016 |archive-date=June 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612215149/http://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/a-former-naturopath-speaks-out-why-precarious-work-can-be-good-and-will-assisted-death-come-to-rural-canada-1.3525870/former-naturopathic-doctor-calls-for-an-end-to-naturopathic-pediatrics-1.3525946 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kirkey2016">{{cite news| vauthors = Kirkey S |title=Should naturopaths be restricted from treating children after tragic death of Alberta toddler? |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/should-naturopaths-be-restricted-from-treating-children-in-wake-of-death-of-alberta-toddler |access-date=8 June 2016 |work=[[National Post]] |date=4 April 2016 }}</ref> She states:<ref name="Hermes2016">{{cite web|vauthors=Britt H|author-link1=Britt Marie Hermes|title=How A Former Naturopath Can Help Unravel The Trickery Of Alternative Medicine|url=http://www.science20.com/britt_marie_hermes/how_a_former_naturopath_can_help_unravel_the_trickery_of_alternative_medicine-175036|website=Science 2.0|access-date=30 July 2016|date=21 June 2016|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114003748/https://www.science20.com/britt_marie_hermes/how_a_former_naturopath_can_help_unravel_the_trickery_of_alternative_medicine-175036|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Naturopaths aggressively lobby for laws to issue them medical licenses. I would characterize this political effort as a perverted redefinition of the words "physician", "doctor", "medical school", and "residency" in order to mask the inadequacy of the training provided in naturopathic programs. ND students do not realize that they are taking educational shortcuts and therefore do not possess any demonstrable competencies found in modern medicine.|author=|title=|source=}}