Physicians Adopt Public Safety Policies at AMA Meeting

June 24, 2011 (Chicago, Illinois) — The American Medical Association (AMA) considered the public health implications of bisphenol A (BPA), mercury emissions, and bath salts here at the 2011 Annual Meeting. There commendations of the AMA's Reference Committee E were passed to a standing ovation in an unprecedented unanimous vote by the AMA's House of Delegates.

BPA is widely used in the production of polycarbonate plastics. The AMA's Council on Science and Public Health prepared a report reviewing human exposure to BPA and the federal regulation of BPA. In the United States, BPA is regulated by 2 agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Physicians testified that these agencies do not appear to be on the same page when regulating this endocrine-disrupting chemical.

The AMA adopted a policy urging that BPA-containing products be clearly labeled if there is a potential for human exposure. "Both the FDA and Canadian officials have recently expressed concern about potential harmful effects of BPA and taken interim action to protect sensitive populations, such as infants and toddlers, by banning the sale of baby bottles, food containers, and cups containing BPA," said AMA board member Edward Langston, MD, from Lafayette, Indiana. "The policy adopted today supports these measures and a shift to a more robust science-based federal regulatory framework for oversight of BPA."

The AMA also adopted a policy that supports the EPA's national mercury emissions standards for cement kilns. "Exposure to mercury can have adverse affects on human neurological development and is associated with reproductive toxicity and cardiovascular morbidity," said Dr. Langston. The new AMA policy "supports stricter monitoring of mercury emissions from cement plants to lessen or eliminate the potential for Americans to be exposed to potentially harmful levels of mercury."

The House of Delegates also voted to support national legislation banning bath salts that contain methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and related compounds that may be toxic. "The misuse of bath salts containing MDPV, mephedrone, and related substances has led to deaths and hundreds of calls to poison centers nationwide," Dr. Langston told Medscape Medical News.

The House of Delegates voted to support the development of written consumer medical information to replace the current framework of patient package inserts. The supporting report on the subject stressed the fact that the lack of availability of useful written patient information is a factor in patient medication nonadherence.

Although the AMA did not pass a resolution on airport security scanners, the physicians did call for more independent research on the health effects of ionizing radiation.

At the meeting, Peter W. Carmel, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon practicing in Newark, New Jersey, was inaugurated as the AMA's 166th president.

Dr. Langston has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.