AMA To Seek Limits On Tanning, Video Games

The American Medical Association voted to take on indoor tanning, violent video games and drinking in an effort to promote healthier lifestyles among the young.

The nation's largest physicians' group also adopted new policies to strengthen its campaign against childhood obesity, including urging doctors to include waist measurements in children's routine exams.

The AMA's newly elected president, Dr. J. Edward Hill, suggested in his inaugural remarks June 21, that doctors use the campaign "as a springboard to improve the health of our nation's most precious commodity, our children."

The measures adopted by AMA member-delegates June 22, the final day of the annual meeting, included a push for a federal ban on minors using tanning salons and more appropriate labeling so only adults would be able to buy violent video games.

States and cities have tried restricting the sale of violent video games to minors, but federal courts have declared the efforts violations of free speech.

Delegates also voted to approve resolutions asking the AMA to lobby for higher alcohol taxes and for taxes to be based on the amount of alcohol per beverage, rather, rather than volume.

Evidence suggests "that tax increases lead to lower alcohol consumption rates among adults and youth, fewer binge-drinking episodes, and lower traffic fatality rates," a committee told the meeting delegates.

Dr. Ronald Davis, an AMA trustee, said it makes sense for a 120-proof beverage to have a higher tax than a 20-proof beverage because the higher alcohol content makes it more risky.

Interest groups say the AMA's new stance is misguided.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States says liquor excise taxes are discriminatory and backfire because by reducing demand, they also reduce tax revenue generated.

The Indoor Tanning Association similarly opposes the AMA push for federal legislation to prohibit anyone under age 18 from using indoor tanning equipment, a move that stemmed from concerns about skin cancer.

Several states have parental consent laws for teen indoor tanning but none have successfully banned it outright, said Melissa Haynes of the Indoor Tanning Association. She said her group believes "decisions on whether or not a teen gets tan should be left up to their parents and not the government."

During its annual meeting this week, the AMA also pledged to encourage medical schools to include ethics training on medical treatment of prisoners of war, but stopped short of acknowledging that any abuse involving U.S. doctors occurred in Iraq and elsewhere.

Some doctors branded as slander a proposed measure suggesting that has happened.

AMA: http://www.ama-assn.org

Reference Source 102
June 23 , 2005


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