Iowa City man told to stop practicing acupuncture without a license

An Iowa City man has been ordered to stop practicing acupuncture.

Kirk Stephan, who also goes by Kirk Anthony, was issued a cease and desist letter by the Iowa Board of Medicine.

The board said it received information that Stephan had engaged in the unauthorized practice of acupuncture in violation of Iowa law.

Iowa requires a license to practice acupuncture.

According to the board, Stephan advertised acupuncture services and offered acupuncture seminars and personal instruction through a Web site for his center in Iowa City.

Stephan, however, said he has not practiced or taught acupuncture in the United States for 11 years.

"I'm frankly confused and quite surprised that the IBME has the time for this obviously mis-construed piece of investigation," he wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette.

Stephan said he has lived in Mexico for 10 years and has been retired for 4 years.

One Web site for his center lists acupuncture and herbology; Oriental health therapy and seminars and classes. The site notes that the center specializes in balancing diets for individual needs, such as weight loss, cholesterol problems and energy renewal.

Another site directs viewers to a new Web site called Rainforest Academy, a non-profit specializing in rain forest medicine and healing studies, rain forest excursions and gemstone-cutting. The site also touts a jungle academy and mystical study tours.

Stephan is said to have studied alternative medicines and is a master of oriental medicine who has been practicing for 35 years and established many alternative medicine clinics and exchanges around Latin America.