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(NaturalNews) The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has announced that it will end the practice of allowing pharmaceutical companies to sponsor meals and educational seminars at its annual meetings.
"There is a perception that accepting meals provided by pharmaceutical companies may have a subtle influence on doctors' prescribing habits," said APA Chief Executive Officer James Scully. "While industry-funded meals used to be normal operating procedure at medical meetings, a sea change is currently underway in how we manage industry relationships. What was acceptable five years ago isn't necessarily acceptable today."
Controversy over close ties between doctors and drug companies has been growing in recent months, sparked in part by revelations that prominent Harvard psychiatrists had concealed financial relationships that could affect their research, teaching and prescribing habits. As part of a probe into doctor-drug industry ties, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley recently asked the APA for information on its financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.
According to APA President Nada Stotland, the association was reviewing its conflict-of-interest policies even before the Harvard scandal broke.
In 2002, the APA implemented a ban on expensive gifts to doctors from drug companies. In other industries, companies still regularly compensate doctors with resort vacations and other expensive perks.
Another common practice is for drug companies to fund continuing education seminars for health professionals at prominent medical conferences. Many of these seminars include a free meal.
The combinations of gifts and education "wasn't the healthiest mixture," Stotland said.
The APA is one of the first doctors' groups to prohibit industry-funded meals and seminars at its conferences.
Many critics believe that even these new rules do not go far enough, however. Not long after the APA issued its new guidelines, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine recommended an end to gifts of money, objects or even drug samples from pharmaceutical companies to doctors.
Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com; www.nytimes.com.
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