We received word today that the President of Emord & Associates, Jonathan W. Emord, has been nominated for the prestigious 2012 WEGO Health Activist Award. Many of you are aware of his achievements for health freedom. You may not know that in addition to defeating FDA censorship on health claims 8 times in federal court, Jonathan has also been tireless in his support for legislative changes to provide protection for the right to make health claims free of government prior restraint, to restore the constitutional system of checks and balances necessary to stem the tide of overregulation, and to remove FDA barriers to the freedom of terminally ill patients to access treatments of their choice based on informed consent. He drafted a series of bills that have been introduced in Congress to that effect, including the Health Freedom Protection Act, the Health Freedom Act, the Freedom of Health Speech Act, the Congressional Responsibility and Accountability Act, and the Compassionate Freedom of Choice Act. In addition, he has intervened with regulators and members of Congress to reverse decisions by FDA denying specific terminally ill patients access to experimental treatments. On February 4, 1998, Jonathan testified before the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, demanding that Zachary McConnell, an 8 year old boy diagnosed with a very aggressive PNET brain tumor, be allowed access to a promising experimental treatment over FDA’s refusal to allow it. Subsequent to that testimony, FDA recanted and allowed the treatment. You can read his testimony here: http://forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/Monopoly/Emord.html. Jonathan recently appeared in a critically acclaimed film Cut Poison Burn (2010), a riveting and heart rending documentary that follows the struggle of Thomas Navarro, a young boy with a terminal brain tumor, as he struggled to gain access to an experimental treatment of promise but was blocked by FDA for months, ultimately being allowed access but too late to save his life. You can obtain a DVD of the documentary here: http://store.nehst.com/cutpoisonburndvd.html. Earlier this year, Jonathan Emord joined Donna Navarro, mother of Thomas, and the producers of the film in public screenings of the film, urging support for the Compassionate Freedom of Choice Act. He also joined them at a briefing on Capitol Hill for members and their staffs which aired the film and urged support for the Compassionate Freedom of Choice Act.
The WEGO Health Activist Awards have asked those who support Jonathan’s nomination to inform the organization of that support. To join me in providing a personal endorsement for Jonathan’s nomination before WEGO’s December 30, 2012 deadline, please follow this link: http://badges.wegohealth.com/endorse-me?referrer=14vz.
