American Academy of Family Physicians: Yes to Free Lunch, No to No Free Lunch

A news update from Carl Elliot to MCW is taken from the No Free Lunch website and available here:

Date: September 14, 2005.

The American Academy of Family Physicians says Yes to McDonald’s,
Yes to Free Lunch, No to No Free Lunch.

Contact: Bob Goodman,
bob@nofreelunch.org, tel: 212-305-6263

The American Academy of Family Physicians, one of the nation’s
largest medical organizations, has denied No Free Lunch-an
organization of health care providers that encourages physicians
to refuse gifts from industry-the opportunity to exhibit at its
upcoming annual meeting in San Francisco.

In a letter to No Free Lunch’s Director Dr. Robert Goodman,
AAFP’s
Manager of Sales and Services Sharon Hutinett said that No Free
Lunch’s position was “not within the character and purpose of
the
Scientific Assembly” and therefore did not meet the AAFP’s
“eligibility requirements.” This despite the fact that the
Coca-Cola Company (booths # 2321 & 2323), The McDonald’s
Corporation (# 2425 & 2427), and The Distilled Spirits Council of
the U.S. (# 527) will all be present at the meeting, and whose
missions thus presumably are within the character and purpose of
the assembly.

Over 5,000 physicians are expected to attend the meeting, and
exhibitors are told on the AAFP website that “seven dedicated
exhibit hall hours provide you with the opportunity for one-on-one
access to these high-prescribing, qualified buyers!” If this is
not enough, companies are provided with an array of sponsorship
opportunities. For example: $17,500 buys granola bars (“in a
custom designed bag that prominently features your logo”) that
are
placed in the “Doctor’s Bag” that are distributed to all
registrants’ hotel rooms; $150,000 buys 50 custom-made banners
that will adorn the shuttle buses taking attendees to and from San
Francisco’s Moscone Center. As the AAFP notes on its website:
“The
supporter of the shuttle bus banners will also receive
complimentary private coach service for its staff from the
supporter’s main hotel to and from the convention center.” And
of
course, there’s free lunch: $60,500 pays for the food vouchers
that physician-attendees will use for lunch each day at the
conference. (see
http://www.aafp.org/x32809.xml)

In April of this year, The American College of Physicians also
denied No Free Lunch the opportunity to exhibit at its Annual
Meeting in San Francisco. The ACP further prevented No Free Lunch
members and medical students from distributing literature-in some
instances using armed San Francisco Police-even when this
literature was the ACP’s own guidelines on acceptance of gifts
from industry.

No Free Lunch (http://nofreelunch.org) is
a not for profit organization whose mission is to encourage health
care providers to practice medicine on the basis of scientific
evidence rather than on the basis of pharmaceutical promotion. It
discourages the acceptance of gifts from industry by health care
providers, trainees, and students. Its goal is improved patient
care. It was founded in 1999 by Bob Goodman, a general internist
at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.