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Don’t take this lightly. Homeopathy is being targeted by the FDA, and it is up to each and every one of us to ensure we retain the freedom to practice our chosen form of medicine continues in this country.

This is about choice.

This is about freedom.

Paola Brown certainly has had my full support as her organization, Americans for Homeopathy Choice, has fought on Capitol Hill to prevent the FDA from acting against the current availability of homeopathic medicines.

In fact, Paola recently did a seven-day Facebook summit in which she interviewed seven different influencers related to the field. Naturally, I agreed to contribute my time to be one of those interviewed.

In addition, as an enticement for listeners to financially support her organization, I contributed —free of charge — a digital copy of my two-CD set, Cells Salts: The Easy Homeopathy, to everyone who donated that day.

I was humbled to learn my interviewed garnered an incredible amount of monetary donation for Americans for Homeopathy Choice, and I emailed 297 contributors a personal link to download the CD set. (I appreciate so much the “thank you” emails I have received from those of you who downloaded the CDs.)

I will continue to do all I can to make sure Paola has the support she needs, but right now she needs more than just me. She needs YOU! She needs each and every one of my readers to sign her Citizen Petition to stop the FDA from acting against homeopathy without accountability.

If anyone can do this, it’s Paola — together with you. You are all Moms with Moxie and Dads with Audacity. There is nothing we can’t accomplish together.

So, please listen to this very special podcast and follow the critical steps Paola details. As she says, it will probably only take 25 minutes of your time yet could mean all the difference in this fight. Join me in protecting our right to freedom of choice and access to homeopathy.

 

IN THIS PODCAST, WE COVER:

 

02:47   Paola Brown   

04:19   Citizen Petition    

16:25   How can we show support

20:48   Send those letters in

 

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Podcast 44: Americans for Homeopathy Choice (Paola interviewed by Joette)

HomeopathyChoice.org: Citizen’s Petition to the FDA — please participate

Americans for Homeopathy Choice Facebook page

Donate: http://homeopathychoice.org/recurring-donations/

Volunteer: https://homeopathychoice.org/volunteer/

Kate:  You are listening to Podcast Number 58 with Joette Calabrese at PracticalHomeopathy.com. We have a special podcast episode for you today. Paola with Americans for Homeopathy Choice joins us again and will share how key it is to act now in support of their Citizen’s Petition and write your representatives.

Thanks for joining us today for a special podcast. I’m Kate, and I’d like to welcome Paola Brown with Americans for Homeopathy Choice to give us an update on the work that she and so many other volunteers have been doing to retain our rights to homeopathy. So, Paola, welcome!

Paola:  Thank you! I’m so happy to be here. This is like coming home in many ways. So, I love being on Joette’s show, and I love being here with you. So, thanks for having us.

Kate:  Oh! Of course! Paola, you are the President for Americans for Homeopathy Choice.

Paola:  Yup, that’s right. That’s why I said, “us,” because I feel like it’s never me. It’s this giant, incredible movement of mothers and others through Americans for Homeopathy Choice … so, yeah.

Kate:  Yeah, you have gathered a lot of great people to rally together and support homeopathy. Paola, you and I go back a ways, and I consider you a friend. I’m just … I’m so thrilled for what you’re doing. It’s such an important thing — that we as mothers need to be able to take care of our children, right? And that’s why you’re fighting for this.

Paola:  Absolutely. That’s exactly right. I keep using this word, “birthright.” And, I really believe that in many ways when you become a mother, you’re inheriting this birthright to protect your children, to care for their health — their spiritual, their temporal (with your husband or whatever your situation is) and their physical health. In many ways, we see today our health freedom is being taken away from us. In many ways, I see that as our birthright being taken away from us.

We have a birthright to health. We, as mothers, have a birthright to care for our children. You know, I just feel like too many things lined up for me not to walk this path. I really see what Joette has done as a huge part of this movement because she, in many ways I think, primed the pump full of these mothers who are now passionate about homeopathy, passionate about regaining their health — regaining that ground. So, I just said, “You know, I will walk the path that has been laid before me.” And so many mothers are doing the same and joining and supporting us.

Paola Brown

Kate:  Yeah, I see a lot of things in your life lined up to bring you to this point. So, you are the perfect person to lead this charge, I think, Paola. You have a lot of spunk and guts. And you have no problems taking charge and just really putting yourself out there, and I admire you for that. So, way to go Paola — and so many of you listening that are taking part in this, joining together and helping to fight for this freedom!

Let’s step back for just a second, and I’m just wondering how you do this. Okay, you teach your children. You try to feed them as well as you can making things from scratch, and you recently moved. That in itself is a huge thing. And you kept up on all those Facebook Lives that you did every night during this move. I mean how is that even possible?

Paola:  I know … right from the hotel room. You know, I have to say it. I’m a person of faith, and I really think that when you are asked to do something by our Father in Heaven, He provides the strength that you need to do it. And so, I’ve really learned about myself and about how to take baby steps — not get overwhelmed. You can’t eat an elephant whole, but you can eat a whole elephant in small bites! And so, I’ve really had to focus on, “Okay, all I need to do today is take this bite, and that’s it.” I’ll be honest with you. We have had a really big move here. I just kind of let some things go and probably packed some things that I need to get rid of when they come out on this end. But, I will deal with it.

Citizen Petition

Kate:  Okay, so let’s dig into the meat of this podcast, and let’s talk about where the work for Americans for Homeopathy Choice is right now. What’s going on? Walk us through some of the action steps that you guys are taking together as an organization. For those of you listening, if you have not already listened to Podcast 44 — which is the first podcast where Joette interviewed Paola, and they talked about how this all got started — go right now and listen to that podcast. And then jump into this one, and you’ll have a better grasp of what’s going on. So, Paola, where do things stand right now? What is going on?

Paola:  So, we need your help. I need you to stop what you’re doing. You know, I’m a podcast girl. I like to listen to my podcasts while I’m folding laundry or doing the dishes and multitasking. I need you to stop what you’re doing. Dry your hands. Put down the underwear that you’re folding. Go to your computer and go to HomeopathyChoice.org. Right there on our homepage, there is a banner, and it says, “Support our Citizen’s Petition.” If all of Joette’s listeners who would listen to just this podcast alone, took this action, we would reach the thousands of comments in the petition docket.

Now, don’t get confused. Earlier this year, we had everyone submit their comments to the FDA docket on the draft guidance, and this is totally different. We have submitted a brand-new document that defends homeopathy. It’s called a “Citizen Petition.” It is our right to do this under law. And what I mean by that is when we do something under law, that forces the FDA to respond. It’s not some informal letter that they can just ignore or take administrative maneuvers to kind of avoid. There is a law behind this document that they have to deal with. And so, getting many, many, many comments in support of that is very important.

So, you go to HomeopathyChoice.org right now. Type it in. Click on that banner, you know, “Support our Petition.” You’ll be taken to our petition page. You can read the petition if you want to. You don’t have to, but you can if you want to. And then we need you to send three quick letters.

Okay, the first one goes straight to the FDA. We have provided an outline for you to kind of quickly write your own, a quick paragraph. The FDA, if they get a ton of copy-and-pasted letters, they count all of those as one comment. So, it’s better to kind of write your own unique comment because then they value your very own comment.

Then you’re going to take that letter that you sent the FDA that we gave you the quick little outline for, and you’re going to copy it, and you’re going to send it to all your representatives. So, that’s your congressman and two senators. Okay? And we have that on our website there, too. You’re going to say, “Look, this homeopathy thing is not going away. It’s an ongoing issue. I want you to stay aware of this. I emailed you about this earlier this year. I’m emailing you about it now. Here is the copy of the letter I just sent the FDA.” Okay, so that’s the second letter, right?

Then the third letter you’re going to send is … you’re going to go on our website; you’re going to copy and paste another letter to send to your representatives. So, we’re technically double-dipping with the representative. We’re sending them one letter about, “This is what I submitted to the FDA,” and then you’re sending them a second letter that says, “Here is the issue at hand.” And that’s what you’re going to copy and paste off our website.

So, what’s that going to take you, 25 minutes? I’ve timed myself doing all of that: 25 minutes! Because what I’m doing right now is I’m trying to reach to your representatives, and I’m trying to make appointments with them. If you don’t make a lot of noise and send those letters in, I’m not going to be able to get that appointment, and I need that appointment. We don’t have enough money to hire a lobbyist. And so, it’s really what you can do to pave the way for Americans for Homeopathy Choice to get those appointments. I’m getting appointments, but we need more of those. So, that’s why we’re kind of trying to build that relationship with Congress.

Kate:  I think a lot of times, people think, “Oh! What’s one more letter going to do?” Right? But it is valuable, because if everybody thought that, there would be no letters sent!

Paola:  Yes, that’s exactly right.

Kate:  So, go right now. I just did it as we were talking. I clicked the banner which says, “ACTION ALERT! Act Now! SUPPORT OUR FDA PETITION.” You just click on that banner. And then the second thing — like Paola said, just to reiterate — is to click on that red button that says, “Contact Congress.” And that’s where you will find all the information to write the letters to your representatives and send those in.

Paola:  Yeah, exactly. So, just so you know, the only thing you’re going to have to write is the quick paragraph to the FDA. Everything else is just copy and pasting and sending your representative the copy of your FDA letter, and then sending them a second message with a copy of our letter that we’ve prewritten for you. So, it’s really not much writing. It’s just a few sentences that you’re going to send to the FDA. And then you’re going to kind of duplicate that to your congressperson, and then you’re going to send them in. So again, this is different. Earlier this year when we were submitting comments, we were totally on the defensive. We were trying to defend ourselves from the draft guidance on homeopathy. This is different. This is offensive. We initiated something that now the FDA has to deal with, and they have to respond to.

Kate:  Isn’t it better to be on the offense than the defense?

Paola:  Yes, totally, absolutely.

Kate:  Good, okay. So, you’ve come up with the Citizen’s Petition, and now that has already been submitted. When did you guys submit that?

Paola:  So, we submitted it — boy, it’s like a blur — we submitted it right before we moved. That would have been August. Now, it’s September, and we really, really need as many comments as possible to go into that docket for that Citizen Petition.

Kate:  Paola, help me understand, why is this Citizen’s Petition so important?

Paola:  Okay, so … okay, this is crazy. Listen to this. I had a phone call this week with Congressman Costello’s office over on Capitol Hill. Congressman Costello wrote a letter to the FDA. He sponsored a letter, and so he got a lot of other congressmen to sign that letter. That’s where we spent all our time earlier this year dealing with. We visited all these congressional offices back in February. We asked them, “Please sign onto Congressman Costello’s letter.” And he did; he got some support. They sent this letter to the FDA, and they said, “Look. We don’t like this draft guidance. You cannot do this. You cannot make homeopathic remedies technically illegal unless they go through a new drug application, without talking to us first.” So, they sent this letter out there.

So, I talked to him this week. I said, “Did the FDA respond to your letter?” And he said, “Yes, they did.” His staffer said, “Yes, they did.” I said, “Can I get a copy of that letter?” Kate, that letter says in black and white — now, I can’t post the whole thing on our website, but we’re going to post an updated summary — that letter says that the FDA fully intends to finalize the draft guidance.

So basically, all those comments that we submitted earlier this year, the FDA is maneuvering around them. I’m not saying they’re disregarding them because the FDA legally can’t. But they’re maneuvering around them, and they fully intend to apply the risk-based approach. That means that homeopathy … whatever remedy they pull off the market, it can only reenter the market IF it goes through a new drug application which would cost millions of dollars. We all know they’re targeting first the nosodes, the remedies they think are concerning. Belladonna, Nux vomica were specifically mentioned in their press release, so some of our key polychrests. So, they said, “We will do this,” basically.

Kate:  All the work that you guys have done, and now they’re basically saying, “Well, we’re moving ahead anyway.” So, if you don’t think that there is a real threat, there is! They fully intended to move ahead regardless of the things that you’ve done. And so, what you’re doing now is super-important. They have to stop. They have to address this petition.

Paola:  Okay, let me give you that quote. It says, “As a result of the agency’s evaluation including consideration of the public input the agency has received on this issue, FDA [this is it], FDA has determined that it is in the best interest of public health to issue a draft guidance that proposes a risk-based enforcement approach.” So, this is here in black and white, that they are going to move forward with that. What this Citizen Petition does is it basically is like a stay of execution. They cannot — they should not — finalize the draft guidance when this petition is in place because in our petition, we said, “Do not finalize the draft guidance.”

You know, a draft guidance is basically like a guidance that helps the FDA police enforce homeopathy, but they don’t understand the law very well. So, they make this draft guidance to help them know exactly what you’re supposed to do. (When a homeopathic remedy says 30C, this is what that means, and this is how it should work, right?) So, they have that guidance. And so, they can remove that guidance and replace it with any other guidance anytime they want.

So, if we keep the Compliance Policy Guide 400.400 right now, ten years from now we can be in the same exact situation we’re in right now where they’re trying to remove it. Then we have to start all over from scratch. So, what we’re asking is first, you need to delete the draft guidance. We don’t like it. Two, we want you to reaffirm the Compliance Policy Guide 400.400. Three, we want you to turn it into a regulation, so it’s fixed, and it stays, and you can’t remove it very easily.

The last point we mentioned in the Citizen Petition is that we want there to be an advisory committee on homeopathy. This advisory committee would be made up of homeopathic professionals, consumer representatives (like a mom could be on that committee). It can’t just be anyone. There’s a law and regulation that guides exactly who can be on these advisory committees, right? So, the FDA can’t just pick one group — one homeopathic organization. It has to be varied. They have advisory committees on hundreds of other subjects. I think it’s very appropriate for homeopathy to have an advisory committee.

Kate:  Let’s just talk for a minute. For those of you who haven’t heard, the Compliance Guide 400.400 is the regulation that has been in place.

Paola:  It’s not a regulation. It’s technically a “guidance.” It guides, kind of, the rules — which is different. It’s like a step down from a regulation. That’s the key. That’s why they can remove it and replace it with something so bad.

Kate:  So, you’re asking them to make it a regulation?

Paola:  Yes, we’re trying to kind of upgrade it now. It’s been in place for 30 years. It’s worked. It’s been great. Now, let’s upgrade it to something that you guys can’t mess with next time you guys get tired of homeopathy or whatever.

Kate:  So, for those of you wanting to know more information about the Citizen Petition and what it includes, go to the website, HomeopathyChoice.org, and you can read the Citizen’s Petition right there. I spent some time going through that, and it’s very interesting. There are some key points that they are presenting through this petition that the FDA has to address, and it’s very important.

Paola:  So, what this petition is doing is, it’s a legal document that the FDA has to respond to before they just proceed. And they know that. If they do finalize the draft guidance, we’ve said in our petition — this was our last request — we said, “If you don’t comply with our request in this petition, we would like to have a hearing.”

Now, a hearing is not just any meeting. It is a formal meeting, and it’s not one that they can easily maneuver. And our attorneys are telling us that the FDA does not like to have hearings — especially when the law is so clear in protecting homeopathy. They will not want to do that. So, it puts them in a tough spot: “If we respond to this petition, and we say, ‘Okay, we listened to you but we’re not going to do this,’” then they have to do a hearing. I mean the Administrative Procedures Act says a Citizen Petition is something that the FDA has to follow procedure in responding to. If they disregard it or maneuver in the wrong way, they’re breaking the law. I mean this is a hefty move that we’ve made.

Kate:  Right. This is not cheap to do this, right? These are difficult things to write and you have to have help and support from a legal team, and you have to have financial backings.

How can we show support?

Paola:  That’s absolutely right. I mean, most of what we’ve done so far with our attorney up until this month really, he has been helping us pro bono — which is just amazing because he loves homeopathy. I mean, he, himself, likes to say that he’s been under the care of a homeopath, a classical homeopath, since the 70s. I think that we are just so blessed to have him. But we did a major fundraising effort on our Facebook page, Americans for Homeopathy Choice. If you type it in the search bar on Facebook, that’s us. And we did this awesome summit, interviewed amazing people. I mean it was just in the peak of my move, and I just knew that we had to do this! Our goal was to get 400 mama bears to join the Bear Pack. (And you know, it really is any person. It doesn’t have to be a woman or a mother. It can be a dad or a male.)

Kate:  A papa bear.

Paola:  Yes, exactly, a papa bear, a brother bear, any bear, right? So, it’s the Bear Pack! And so, that’s anyone who’s donating $25 a month becomes a member of our Bear Pack. Right now, we have just over 150 people who are donating. I mean, I have to say, I honor those people who are donating, and I’m so thankful for them because they are literally carrying this movement on their back! We would not be able to take another step forward without them. Their donations came at a critical time. Those of you who’ve done a one-time donation, we are so incredibly thankful for you, too.

But you’re right, it does cost money. I have to say, you know, people say all the time like, “Oh, but you know, we would never be able to fund raise the amount of money that big pharma has, right?” And Jim said a very interesting thing on our Save Homeopathy Summit that we had earlier.

Kate:  And Jim is your attorney?

Paola:  Jim is our attorney, yes, right. Sorry, he’s our attorney. He says the reason that big pharma has to have that kind of money is because they don’t have people. He says for you to have a political movement, you either need people, and then if you don’t have people, then you need a ton of money to kind of replace the energy that people put in.

I feel so strongly that the homeopathy movement has some big energy because we have some amazing, committed, dedicated people to homeopathy. So, when you have people in a homeopathy movement donating money, that money goes larger, farther, and is stronger than a dollar coming from a pharmaceutical industry that is just a naked buck — without that powerful energy coming from mothers and others who are caring about their health.

Kate:  And there’s other ways to support this effort rather than a financial donation, too. If you can’t donate money, there’s time, right? You guys need people.

Paola:  Yeah, absolutely. We have a volunteer form on our website. We have a Facebook page where people can request and join. We’re always kind of trying to think of ways for people to help. Yeah, if you don’t have the time then, of course, do the donation. Here’s the thing, to join the Bear Pack, that’s less than a dollar a day — $25 a month. That’s less than a dollar a day! We’re trying to kind of create some “thank you” benefits where we have a member’s area right now. If you’re a Bear Pack member, you can log in to your member’s area, and you can see the entire Save Homeopathy Webinar series, which is no longer on Facebook (we just have a few snippets there). So, we’re trying to kind of create like a “thank you” VIP area for those of you who are members of the Bear Pack — you know, donating $25 a month. We plan to have quarterly visits from really cool homeopaths to talk about some education on homeopathy. And you know who I already have at the top of my list to be one of those!

Kate:  Are her initials J.C.?

Paola:  Yes, that’s right, and we’re not talking about Jesus this time. So, that’s just kind of our thank you. That’s our goal is to kind of keep those members of the Bear Pack. And they also get like a special newsletter that has some insider information that we don’t necessarily share publicly quite yet, until it’s fully right.

Kate:  If you think about it, homeopathy is not expensive. So, let’s spend some of this money to help this organization to help this cause, so that we can defend our rights to use homeopathy, because we do save a lot of money when we use homeopathy versus conventional medications. You’re spending money on homeopathy, yes. But look at all the money that I’m saving! So, let’s put some of that money that we’re saving into this organization to help support them.

Paola:  I couldn’t have put it better myself. That’s right.

Send those letters in

Kate:  So, let’s take some time and look ahead now. What do you have planned for the future?

Paola:  So, this Citizen Petition, it is most definitely like a “block.” Like I said, it puts us on the offensive, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. Listen, I hope that the FDA will comply with our petition. So, hope for the best, but you got to prepare for the worst. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if our prepare-for-the-worst plan ends up being the plan. So, that’s really the larger, broader, legislative strategy that we’re starting to develop now as we’re realizing this isn’t going to go away. It means that we need support from people on Capitol Hill — which is why we need you guys to send those letters in. We can’t show up to Congress and ask them for their support on homeopathy out of the blue. We need to develop relationships now. That’s why we’re not just asking you to submit your comments to the FDA about the petition. We’re saying send it to the FDA and then send two letters to your representatives — your senators (both of them) and your congressman — so that we can develop a relationship so that when that broader legislative strategy is ripe and ready to go, we have relationships. And that’s the goal.

Kate:  Nice. So, it is very important that we take the time to write those letters. And you’re having meetings scheduled soon with representatives?

Paola:  I have like, you know, meetings next week. I had one today. And it’s not with representatives directly; they’re usually very busy. You’re talking to their staffer from their office, and then they’re communicating out with the congressman or senator.

Kate:  So, time is of the essence. Get those letters in! What else can we do, Paola?

Paola:  I really believe in the power of prayer. If you can support us financially joining the Bear Pack or doing a one-time donation, we’re so incredibly thankful. Next, if you’ve submitted your letters, you kind of put word to action, right? You’ve submitted your letters to the FDA and your representatives. And if you can volunteer, messaging us, we have a volunteer button on our website, homeopathychoice.org. There’s all these little things that we’ve prepared for you guys to kind of help us out. And then pray; pray for our country; pray for homeopathy. I know we can do this. I believe in this movement. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think we could. We can.

Kate:  When we were talking earlier, you were so passionate. It was just fun to listen to your passion about how we’re going to save homeopathy. You said, “We are going to do it, Kate!”

Paola:  Yeah, we are; we are. I said before and I’ll say it again. I really believe that generations are going to look back at this time — this critical time — and look back on those moms that stepped up. This is your chance to put your stake in the ground and say, “I was part of that movement. I stepped up, and I did what I could.” That’s why I’m saying, leave the dishes! Let your kids play in the mud — whatever they’re up to, let them do it — and spend a little bit of time to send that comment. And get your husband to send it and get your neighbor to send it. Email your five friends; beg them to do that. We really got to do it.

Kate:  The groups that you’re a part of, get this information out there. Put it on your Facebook page. You can connect with your organization, Americans for Homeopathy Choice. Just look them up on Facebook. Paola is doing Facebook Lives and so you can keep abreast of what’s going on through that Facebook page as well.

Paola:  That’s right. We do a weekly update, Friday or Saturday night. Sometimes it runs on Monday night, but we’ll do one every week.

Kate:  Okay, so we’ll keep an eye on that. Well, Paola, thank you so much for giving us some update. I’m very hopeful for the future of homeopathy. We’re just thankful that you are leading the charge, and that so many of you are donating and giving of your times. I know that Joette supports this organization and the work that you’re doing. So, thank you so much.

Paola:  Yes, thank you and a special thanks to Joette. Anytime I call her, and I ask her for something, she finds a way to do it, and they make it happen. That’s just because they know how important this is. At the end of the day, she has been a huge backbone for this — kind of the grgroundwork activating a group of moms who love homeopathy. And so, I’m just so, so grateful for everything that Joette has done. So, thank you so much for having me on the show.

Kate:  You just listened to a podcast from PracticalHomeopathy.com where nationally certified homeopath, public speaker, and author, Joette Calabrese shares her passion for helping families stay strong through homeopathy. Joette’s podcasts are available on iTunes, Google Play, Blueberry, Stitcher, and TuneIn radio.

Thank you for listening to this podcast with Joette Calabrese. To learn more and find out if homeopathy is a good fit in your health strategy, visit PracticalHomeopathy.com.

These Moms with Moxie podcasts are designed to be inspirational, not specifically educational. No Remedy Card is provided.