By Charnicia E. Huggins

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Realizing the widespread use and increasing popularity of alternative and complementary medicines, President Clinton in March issued an executive order to establish a White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. In a follow-up to this order, on Thursday the President appointed 10 members to the commission, including Dr. James S. Gordon, director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, who will serve as chair.
　　The purpose of the commission is to ``make recommendations to Congress and the President about legislation that will make the best of all complementary and alternative therapies available to all Americans (and) to ensure training for all healthcare professionals,'' Gordon told Reuters Health in an interview.
　　The commission is expected to provide a comprehensive report on complementary and alternative therapies, which will be issued to the President through the Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to a White House statement, the report will address the following:
　　-- the education and training of healthcare practitioners in complementary and alternative medicine;
　　-- coordinated research to increase knowledge about complementary and alternative practices and products;
　　-- the provision to healthcare professionals of reliable and useful information about complementary and alternative medicine that can be made readily accessible and understandable to the general public;
　　-- and guidance for appropriate access to and delivery of complementary and alternative medicine.
　　In addressing these issues, the commission hopes to create a ``model of collaboration and respect among medical professionals who, coming from different traditions, use different methods of treatment,'' Gordon said. The commission therefore aims ``to achieve a kind of healthcare that really makes the best possible use of all therapies available from all over the world,'' he stated.
　　More members of the commission will be appointed at a later time.