BLOGGER COULD BE THROWN IN JAIL FOR…WRITING ABOUT HIS DIET?It’s the sort of story you expect to come from a third world superstitious kleptopcracy – yet it happened here on American soil, in North Carolina, thanks to good old fashioned state-level bureaucracy. Reason Magazine brings us the bizarre and senseless story of a Steve Cooksey, a former diabetic who put himself on the popular “Paleo” diet and decided to tell the world about his experiences, only to have the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutrition (yes, that exists) come down on him:
It’s a distinction only an embittered bureaucrat could come up with. So long as you just say a particular diet is wonderful, or worked for you, you’re fine, but if you actually tell people to use it, you’re supplying nutritional advice. Never mind that the implication of any positive review of a product is that someone should use it.
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.
It’s a distinction only an embittered bureaucrat could come up with. So long as you just say a particular diet is wonderful, or worked for you, you’re fine, but if you actually tell people to use it, you’re supplying nutritional advice. Never mind that the implication of any positive review of a product is that someone should use it.
Read the rest HERE.
