Need(le) broader acupuncture law

Assemblymember Ellen Young hopes her colleagues will get the point when they consider a bill she introduced recently - herbal remedies are an integral part of acupuncture, the ancient Chinese medicinal therapy.
Under current law, while New York State recognizes degrees in acupuncture and licensed practitioners, it gives them no authority to suggest or compound the herbal mixtures, which had always been an integral part of the method.
The roughly 3,000 licensed acupuncturists in the state are out on a limb if they even suggest herbal remedies - open to malpractice suits and uncovered by insurance - because it isn’t recognized as part of their practice.
Young’s bill includes standards for continuing education and certification and would give trained acupuncturists the authority to “prescribe” herbs.
Young, the first Asian elected to the state Assembly, sums up the bill in just a few words. “It’s all about keeping people safe,” she said.
Acupuncturists would be required to document that they had taken 36 hours of continuing study for their license to be renewed, once every three years. They would also have to complete “an approved herbal exam module” before they could include herbs in their practice.
The state board that certifies acupuncturists would also add two practitioners, and lose one physician, a tribute to the growing acceptance of what Westerners sometimes call “non-traditional medicine.”
“It’s been 17 years since New York established a license procedure for acupuncture,” Young said. “There are so many more patients now.”
In addition to allowing the “recommendation and/or preparation of herbs, natural products, and diet,” the law would include acupuncturists among the professionals who are required to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment.
Part of their training will require a two-hour course in recognizing and reporting child abuse. “With more and more people seeking out Chinese medicine for ailments - especially bruises and dislocations - the bill would help expose abuse that might otherwise go undetected.” Young pointed out.
With more than 80 co-sponsors in the Assembly, the bill’s passage seems assured, and an identical bill is also in the Senate, sponsored by Catherine M. Young, who represents the western tip of the state.
“She used to be in the Assembly, and we’ve become friends,” Ellen Young said. “She’s gotten some co-sponsors already; it’s going to be the ‘Young-Young Bill’,” she reflected, in a moment of levity over an otherwise serious topic.