In Memoriam: James S. Turner, Attorney, Esq.

Author, Consumer and Health Advocate
1940 – January 25, 2022
by Ron Whitmont, MD

James S. Turner, an attorney and consumer advocate, as well as one of the original “Nader’s Raiders,” having worked with consumer protection activist Ralph Nader, passed away suddenly after a fall in his home on Tuesday January 25th, 2022. He was 81 years old. Jim was the author of The Chemical Feast: Ralph Nader’s Study Group Report on the Food and Drug Administration, a 1970 book of which Time Magazine wrote that it “may well be the most devastating critique of a U.S. Government agency ever issued.”

In 1973, Mr. Turner cofounded Swankin & Turner, a Washington, DC law firm representing individual consumers, consumer groups, and businesses in a wide variety of regulatory matters concerning food, drug, health, environmental, and product safety matters, in which he was an active principal until the very last day of his life.

He appeared before every major consumer regulatory agency, including the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission and Federal Trade Commission, as well as the Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health. Jim served as special counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Food, Nutrition, and Health, and to the Senate Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Research. He was also a policy consultant to major corporations in the food, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries, including such companies as Kraft Foods, The Quaker Oats Company, Hoffmann-LaRoche, and AT&T.

He became a well-known figure in the natural health field for representing a coalition that successfully opposed an effort by the Federal Trade Commission to ban the words “organic,” “natural,” and “health food” from commerce, by arguing that those terms were meaningful to consumers who wanted the information that would let them choose such products. He was instrumental in helping the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which defined and regulated dietary supplements in a way that supported consumer choice, and the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which established uniform national standards for the production and handling of food labeled as “organic.” In 1996, he was lead attorney on a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that led to the classification of acupuncture needles as medical devices safe for “general use” by trained practitioners, leading to their legal importation and distribution for the first time.

Jim was the founder (in 1978) and President of the non-profit National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy (NISLAP) “to bridge the gap between scientific uncertainties and the need for laws protecting public health and safety.” In 1992, he was a founder of Citizens for Health, a consumer organization defending individual choice and access in health matters and nutrition, of which he was Chairman at the time of his death. In 1996, he helped start Consumers for Dental Choice, which has  successfully campaigned to limit mercury-based dental products. He worked to oppose dangerous exposure to radio-frequency radiation and to encourage innovative health care options including energy medicine.

Some of Jim’s most recent advocacy work included providing expert counsel to groups like Americans for Homeopathy Choice, the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Homeopathy Advocacy Working Group, the Homeopathy Consumer Council, and others that sought to preserve and protect access to homeopathy and homeopathic medicines in the U.S. Jim gave generously of his time and worked tirelessly to assist, plan, and strategize. One of Jim’s dreams was to steward legislation that would permanently protect homeopathy from the capriciousness of groups like the FDA, which had issued guidances seeking to limit the growth and advancement of homeopathy.

Jim served as a consumer consultant and sat on advisory boards and committees of governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, the FDA, the FTC, and business groups such as the Food Safety Council, as well as numerous boards of directors, boards of advisors, and legal and policy committees of nonprofit, educational, professional, and activist organizations, including the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, the American Herbal Products Association, and Voice for HOPE (Healers of Planet Earth).

He was a graduate of the Ohio State University, which he attended on a U.S. Navy scholarship and where he served on the student senate for three years. He received his law degree from the Ohio State University College of Law (now Moritz College of Law) where he served as chief justice of the moot court. Between his undergraduate education and law school he was a lieutenant on active duty in the U.S. Navy, where he graduated with distinction from Naval Justice School and served as a nuclear weapons handling officer and gunnery officer aboard the U.S.S. Purdy and the U.S.S. Austin.

In addition to The Chemical Feast, Mr. Turner was the co-author of Making Your Own Baby Food, and Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life, as well as numerous articles, book chapters, speeches, and lectures. With his Voice of the People co-author, A. Lawrence Chickering, the author of Beyond Left and Right: Breaking the Political Stalemate, he co-founded and co-edited The Transpartisan Review, a journal of articles showing how politics, culture and society can be better understood as a matrix rather than a continuum. After founding Potomac Valley Press, he published Healthy Harvest: A Directory of Sustainable Agriculture & Horticulture Organizations (1985-1989), and hosted an organic community garden at his Washington, DC home for over 30 years.

He is survived by his son Christopher B. Turner, Esq., his daughter, Victoria Turner, and his law partner and life partner of 45 years, Betsy E. Lehrfeld, Esq.

“I feel very honored to have worked closely with Jim Turner over the last several years. One of the most intelligent men that I ever met, Jim possessed a deep and abiding love for homeopathy. He had the capacity to bring homeopathy into the modern world and had great eloquence in sharing his knowledge with others. I feel that a great light in the homeopathic community has gone out. His loss will be deeply felt by both myself and the homeopathic community in the years to come.” – Todd Rowe, MD

“In many ways, it’s thanks to Jim that our growing and energetic movement to empower American homeopathy has come this far. It was Jim who helped consumers like me realize that we really do have the power to effect change. I’m particularly heartbroken to lose a friend that I’ve spoken to almost daily for the past four years. I’m full of love and appreciation for all he’s done for homeopathy, his vision and commitment to do good. I know his plan was to live forever, but alas, none of us can. I spoke with Jim the night before he passed, and he was peppy and working as usual. I shared with him some good progress we had made on congressional meetings this week, and we ended the call with our usual phrase we liked to say to each other: “Keep up the good work.”

Although I will miss my friend every step of the way, that is exactly what I intend to continue to do, and with all of you supporting homeopathy, we will. We hope you will join us in celebrating his life by taking a moment to think of our friend and advocate this very week.” – Paola Brown, President, AFHC