'Paleo' Nutrition Blogger Will Go to Jail if He
Does Not Recant
by
Gary North
Tea Party Economist
Recently
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Freedom of
speech? Surely, you jest.
This man got
diabetes. He started a blog on treating diabetes. He broke the law
by doing this. He is not licensed to promote such opinions.
He promotes
the so-called “paleo” diet: low carbohydrates. (The diet
is not “paleo.” It’s capitalist. I have explained
this here.)
He criticizes
the establishment’s “carbs are OK” Party Line. That
called down the wrath of the government on him.
Chapter
90, Article 25 of the North Carolina General Statutes makes it
a misdemeanor to “practice dietetics or nutrition” without
a license. According to the law, “practicing” nutrition
includes “assessing the nutritional needs of individuals
and groups” and “providing nutrition counseling.”
If he does
not rewrite 3 years of posts, he must take down his site. If he
refuses, and if he is convicted (after an expensive legal fight),
he will go to jail.
When he
was hospitalized with diabetes in February 2009, he decided to
avoid the fate of his grandmother, who eventually died of the
disease. He embraced the low-carb, high-protein Paleo diet, also
known as the “caveman” or “hunter-gatherer”
diet. The diet, he said, made him drug- and insulin-free within
30 days. By May of that year, he had lost 45 pounds and decided
to start a blog about his success.
But this
past January the state diatetics
and nutrition board decided Cooksey’s blog – Diabetes-Warrior.net
– violated state law. The nutritional advice Cooksey provides
on the site amounts to “practicing nutrition,” the board’s
director says, and in North Carolina that’s something you
need a license to do.
Unless Cooksey
completely rewrites his 3-year-old blog, he could be sued by the
licensing board. If he loses the lawsuit and refuses to take down
the blog, he could face up to 120 days in jail.
The board’s
director says Cooksey has a First Amendment right to blog about
his diet, but he can’t encourage others to adopt it unless
the state has certified him as a dietitian or nutritionist.
Bloggers should
understand this. They can offer self-testimony. They can link to
other articles that report on health. But if they promote the information
as recommendations, they are at risk. The establishment has passed
laws against this.
Charla Burill,
the board’s director, told Carolina Journal she could
not discuss the details of Cooksey’s case because his website
is still under investigation, but agreed to talk about the law
in the hypothetical.
It’s
not necessarily against the law to give your sister or your friend
nutritional advice, she said. And it’s not necessarily against
the law to use a blog to tell people what they should eat.
Where it
crosses the line, Burill said, is when a blogger “advertises
himself as an expert” and “takes information from someone
such that he’s performing some sort of assessment and then
giving it back with some sort of plan or diet.”
Did he advertise
himself as an expert? I went to his site. Here
is what I found.
Disclaimer
1) I am
not a doctor, dietitian nor nutritionist. I have ZERO medical
training and NO formal nutritional training. However, I am a diabetic
who follows his own “diabetic diet” (backed by scientific
research) and has normal Blood Glucose while taking -0- drugs
and -0- insulin.
2) Personal
advice will not be given on this site. This site is ONLY intended
for educational purposes ONLY. Providing people with the information
on a “real” diabetes diet is my goal. Creating other
Diabetes Warriors…is my desire!
3) Please
consult your physician regarding any health guidelines seen in
this site. IF YOUR doctor does NOT support information provided
on this site, I urge you to find a “low carb friendly”
doctor as soon as possible.
Please contact
me if you are unable to locate one. Click
HERE
What I
Have Done
1) I have
learned from top PhDs, MDs and Fitness experts … through
their writings and opinions regarding legitimate mainstream medical
studies.
2) I have
confirmed many of their findings through my own personal experiences.
I am a former obese diabetic who was taking 4 drugs and 4 insulin
shots per day!… now… I’ve lost 75 lbs and I am
DRUG AND INSULIN FREE!!! All this with normal Blood Sugar….not
normal for diabetics….NORMAL Blood Sugar for non-diabetics.
 This
did not protect him.
Read the whole
story. Click
the link.
He must now
either shut down his site or re-write the articles or be sued by
the state of North Carolina.
Continue
Reading on www.carolinajournal.com
April
26, 2012
Gary
North [send him mail]
is the author of Mises
on Money. Visit http://www.garynorth.com.
He is also the author of a free 20-volume series, An
Economic Commentary on the Bible.
Copyright ©
2012 Gary North
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