And that will bring discredit to many healing machines I know work.

FDA bans import of ‘miracle machines’ headline from the SEATTLE TIMES

I’m no fan of Bill Nelson and his greedy empire centered around the EPFX (formerly QXCI). Even less so now. His goading of the FDA is likely to lead to heavy attacks on a great many good people and numerous more worthy devices than his overpriced trinket box, which now costs $19,900 (probably less than $100 to manufacture).

The rest of this post continues with an edited-down version of a recent article in the Seattle Times. The picture is frighteningly clear, gruesome (and was totally avoidable). The sad thing is I agree with a lot of what is said. Alternative medicine is often just a cover for the same kind of unscrupulous greed that the medical profession displays, just as craven, just as jealously guarded and just as full of the hypocrisy and “holier than thou” B*S*.

One of the EPFX’s definitely fraudulent claims that keeps coming up is that it was used on members of the U.S. cycling team during the 2003 and 2007 Tour de France. Jeffrey Spencer, a chiropractor for champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, denies he ever used it on Armstrong.

Now the FDA is trying to shut down Nelson’s medical-device empire, by blocking the import of the machine which (they say) he claims can cure diseases such as cancer and AIDS. More likely it’s wildly enthusiastic amateurs that said this, IMHO. The desktop device, called the EPFX, is manufactured in Hungary by William Nelson, who fled the U.S. in 1996 after he was indicted on felony fraud charges related to his invention.

FDA compliance director Timothy Ulatowski, who oversees medical-device regulation, said the action is the first step in a sweeping investigation of Nelson, his distributors and EPFX operators. The intention is to shut down Nelson’s distributor network. For the time being they are not going after existing devices.

The largest distributor, The Quantum Alliance, is in Calgary, Alberta. The FDA are meeting with Canadian counterparts, to see what action can be taken (to try to subvert Canada’s democratic freedom, presumably!).

The FDA says many EPFX operators dupe patients by posing as highly trained health-care professionals through the use of deceptive credentials and degrees from unaccredited institutions. I can only comment and say that my attempt to offer decent and meaningful certificates of training in such devices (not exclusively the EPFX) was met with the cold shoulder and the distributor’s own mickey-mouse training and “biofeedback certification”. Draw your own conclusions.

The sleazy Seattle Times and its sanctimonious posturing claims to have revealed how manufacturers and operators used unproven devices — some illegal, some dangerous — to misdiagnose diseases, divert critically ill people from life-saving care, and drain their bank accounts. The usual story. Bad journalists overlooking the fact that orthodox medical treatment now kills more people in the USA than the top disease does.

The Seattle Times (not the FDA note) claims these patients are casualties in the growing field called “energy medicine” — alternative therapies based on the belief that the body has energy fields that can be manipulated to improve health—implying that this is a hoax, despite the VOLUME of science that says otherwise.

Another device got dragged into the net, which is the PAP-IMI, a 260-pound electromagnetic pulsing machine, possibly linked to patient injuries and death. The devices, made in Greece by inventor Panos Pappas, were smuggled into the U.S. as seed germinators. They remain in use today in at least five states. The FDA will take action against the PAP-IMI, but won’t give details of when and how.

The trouble is, as I said, that many good folk will fall to this purge. The FDA is now going to be looking into committees of medical professionals called institutional review boards, or IRBs. These Review boards are required to oversee the design and safety of clinical studies. Scores of private companies sell IRB services, which offer the promise of quick study approval and oversight for as little as a few thousand dollars.

The medical devices involved in clinical studies will be included in the investigation being conducted by a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, which oversees the FDA. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., requested the expanded investigation. He wants to eliminate “IRB shopping,” in which a device maker can hire a private overseer for a study. The FDA does not track most of the studies. [doesn’t track the crappy studies from drug companies either – in fact what DOES it do?]

Rep. Bart Stupak, subcommittee chairman, and Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the full committee and a subcommittee member, said in a statement that FDA regulations may not adequately protect the public. Both are Michigan Democrats. They are apparently concerned that “Americans are being duped by dangerous, unproven devices that illegally claim to diagnose, treat and even cure their illnesses.”

Actually my impression is that Americans need protecting from their own federal regulators, who know as little about honesty and integrity as they seem to know about health issues.