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Clinton creates group to study alternative medicine
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3-20-2000 Washington. President Clinton has formed a commission to study the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine in an effort to provide Congress with information regarding research, training, insurance coverage, licensing, and other issues affecting the public. According to Clinton’s executive order, the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy will address ways to make information on alternative therapies understandable and accessible to the public, and provide guidance for appropriate access and delivery of alternative medicine. The commission will include 15 members to be appointed by Clinton and an executive director to be appointed by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala. The members will be chosen from a pool of knowledgeable representatives in healthcare practice and complementary and alternative medicine. Clinton’s order stems from the 1999 Appropriation Bill that said the research gap in alternative medicine "creates consumer safety issues and prevents the nation from realizing the full potential of natural medicines." "They [the commission] have a budget of $1 million, and will be administratively housed at NIH (National Institutes of Health)," said Anne Thomas, NIH’s associate director for communication. "The appropriation bill also calls for an elevation of the Office of Alternative Medicine within NIH to support its ongoing activities to investigate, evaluate, and validate alternative therapies." The commission will have two years to delineate what it will include in the category of complementary and alternative medicine, then refine and meet its goals unless the president authorizes an extension.
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