Monday, November 23, 2009

True to their vocation



I wonder if it's accurate to say that there is a lack of doctors and other practitioners supposedly trained to help people remain healthy (and to treat their bodies of illness when illness occurs), who remain true to their vocation. But I sure am very happy whenever I hear of news of doctors standing up for the sanctity of every human life in any way, and exerting efforts to enable even the poorest people to be given quality health care, when they need it.

As there has come to be a wide discrepancy between marketing of consumer goods, and principles of proper nutrition, society could really use more guidance from the experts and from those who have the people's interest at heart. Food and drink that lack nutritional value (soda, MSG-laden and sugary snacks, and the like) are being marketed aggressively, so the way some doctors are remaining firm on what's important is very welcome (and very much needed).

A family physician near San Francisco is encouraging members of the American Academy of Family Physicians to resign in protest of the organization’s alliance with The Coca-Cola Co. to educate consumers about how Coca-Cola’s products fit into a healthful lifestyle.

Dr. William Walker, director of Contra Costa Health Services in Martinez, said in an interview Friday that he had resigned from the AAFP “with great sorrow.” He said 10 to 20 other physicians, all affiliated with Contra Costa Health, also have quit the association.

...

“I am appalled and ashamed of the partnership between Coca-Cola and the American Academy of Family Physicians,” Walker said in a release. “How can any organization that claims to promote public health join forces with a company that promotes products that sicken our children?”


Full article at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood


* Illustration: Doctor and doll (1929), by Norman Rockwell



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