NYT: North Carolina blogger fights state requirement that he be licensed to give nutrition advice

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Steve Cooksey eats what he calls a cave man diet — lots of meat and greens, no bread or pasta. He says it has helped him conquer life-threatening diabetes.

But when he wrote about his experiences and offered advice on his Web site, officials in North Carolina said he was breaking the law by “providing nutrition care services without a license.” …

a North Carolina law says that “assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups” without a license is a crime. Many other states license nutritionists and dietitians, but the North Carolina law seems to be among the stricter ones. …

Mr. Cooksey … filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Charlotte, N.C., saying his First Amendment rights had been violated. ..

Mr. Cooksey is represented by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group that often takes issue with employment licensing laws, usually on the ground that they interfere with economic competition. In Mr. Cooksey’s case, it also argues that the North Carolina law interferes with the marketplace of ideas. …

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About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams

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0 thoughts on “NYT: North Carolina blogger fights state requirement that he be licensed to give nutrition advice

  1. hauntedheadnc

    You could not be more right, Tim. I too yearn for the days of patent medicine — especially the “radium water” cures or the opium or laudanum “infant soothers.”

    There is a reason for licenses and standards. Before we had them, people died.

    End of discussion.

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