Friday, October 23, 2009

Hypocrisy From The AAFP?


The American Academy of Family Practice has recently announced a corporate partnership with The Coca-Cola Company. The "beverage giant will provide a grant for the Academy to develop consumer education content related to beverages and sweeteners for the AAFP's award-winning consumer health and wellness Web site". On the AAFP website they say that this "Consumer Alliance program also will create a new source of funding for AAFP, which, in recent years, has broadened its search for funding outside the pharmaceutical industry". That statement, by the way, is not totally true. I just got back from the AAFP Scientific Assembly where drug ads were on everything the AAFP handed out and there was a football field full of paying pharmaceutical company vendors.


So let me get this straight, it is basically a crime against humanity for individual doctors to even take a pen from a drug rep yet my professional organization can whore themselves out to anyone they want?


"We've made a conscious effort to diversify our sources of revenue," AAFP President-elect Lori Heim MD said.


This sure seems weird to me. Shouldn't the AAFP be urging patients and consumers to avoid sweetened soft drinks? You know, the ones that help cause obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, and other health problems?