News from AOMSM

Nancy Gilfoy, AOMSM president, attended the AAAOM conference in Wheeling, IL representing the Massachusetts association and she wrote these summaries of a couple of important initiatives that you will be hearing more about in the coming months.

Herbal Safety Database: Over years of escalating threats involving our profession's access to herbs, the AAAOM Board of Directors, the Herbal Medicine Committee and the National Government Affairs Committee is proposing the creation of an Adverse Effects Reporting database for Chinese herbs modeled on a database developed by the pet supplement industry. In response to increasing pressure from the FDA, the National Animal Supplement Council developed a system for collecting the evidence-based safety data that was necessary to secure regulatory protection of pet supplements. The database allows the pet supplement industry and its regulators to monitor access and risk.

A similar data collection system is being proposed for Chinese herbs. Practitioners would report any adverse effects from the use of a Chinese herb formula to the manufacturer who would then submit the information to the database. If a question comes up about the safety of a specific herb, the database would identify if there has ever been a problem.

There will be an article in a future Acupuncture Today providing more details.

Lobbyist in Washington: The Legislative Committee of AAAOM is starting the process of hiring a lobbyist in Washington, DC to represent the interests of the AOM profession on the national level. A request for proposals has gone out to identify potential firms and fundraising efforts have been started.

Presidents' Council: At every AAAOM annual conference, there is a networking meeting of the presidents of state associations called the Presidents' Council. For the past year, there has also been an ongoing email listserve linking the state association representatives which has become a useful way to share information and discuss issues. It has also provided the opportunity for the state association presidents to create an agenda for when they meet in person.

In Wheeling, the Presidents' Council began a consensus process to 1) create a structure for the Presidents' Council and 2) begin to formulate a proposal for the role of the state associations in relationship to AAAOM. It was a very productive meeting and a very hopeful beginning. To summarize the broader goals of the process, Presidents' Council members are interested in 1) the states helping each other more effectively; 2) the states and the broader AAAOM membership having greater input into AAAOM policies and priorities; and 3) the AAAOM providing better support for the state associations. The consensus process will continue at the next AAAOM conference in April.